Harry Potter and The Land of Ice and Fire
by kossboss
Summary: A small change in Harry's battle with the Basilisk had him slowly absorbing Voldemort's memories from the Horcrux in his scar. Follow Harry as he makes preparations to leave the Wizarding world behind for good with Sirius and embark on a long and exciting journey into the unknown. But little can prepare Harry for the eventual Game of Thrones he must play to survive once there.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I have been asked by many of my readers about writing a second story, many asking for various crossovers and even offering some ideas on how to where them. My answer to all of them was basically the same, I have thought about it for the future, but currently my focus is solely on Harry Potter and The Chance at a New Life and I am not looking to write a second story atm. However since I do not have access to my desktop right now due to renovations and can't post the next chapter for HPCNL as key stuff is on it, meaning I am in a position that I could spare some time to put another story down onto paper.

This story will take second place to my Stargate/HP crossover and will only be worked on when I have enough spare time, plus I am in need of a break from my other story, or change of pace. Therefore there will be no schedule for chapters as there may be many months between them as I am mostly working on my other story. That does not mean chapters may not come out fairly quickly, though I am not going to put as much effort into this story as I do my other. My other story requires a lot of planning, tracking, and even hours and hours of research, that will not be happening here to the same degree.

WARNING TO PAST READERS OF MY STORIES: The first chapter is revamped version of my first chapter for my other story. If you do not want to read it you can skip to the end where I will point out the major difference between the two in the author note.

As always I apologize for some of my writing coming off weird, or some of the mistakes as I am Dyslexic and it can be difficult at times getting words down on paper correctly.

S/N: This story has plans to go beyond just HP/GOT and will most likely include another crossover way down the line if I ever get to that point. I will not say what that is now as it will have no bearing to the story atm and I do not want to get some peoples hopes up and never actually reach that point. Another factor that I am keeping in mind for this story, is how do I make it different enough from those other stories that have already been written in this fandom crossover, and I hope I will succeed enough. However you may see some ideas borrowed from other stories, or ones that are common across many. This story is gonna to be similar style as my other one, and features a grey, smart, powerful Harry. There is also many elements of empire building type stories.

C/N: This chapter is a bit rushed and while I did touch it up I did not want to have to write the 100k words to truly do these events justice and flushed out with all the details. That is why there are very few conversations and it comes off more as a recap or even outline of the events.

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Chapter 1:

Watching the veil of the Arch in front of him flutter back and forth, Harry James Potter, the so called boy who lived, contemplated his life looking back to see just how he had gotten to this point.

The odd series of events that led him to be in bowls of the Ministry of Magic could almost all be traced to the last week of his second year at Hogwarts. More specifically to during his battle with the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. When he stabbed the sword of Gryffindor through the mouth of the snake, one of the fangs stabbed into his shoulder blade, rather than simply into his flesh, which made all the difference. When Fawkes cried into his wound after he stabbed the journal, the tears caused the small flecks of basilisk fang still embedded in his wound to fuse with his shoulder blade, but more importantly his bone marrow.

The battle and its aftermath were the catalyst that changed his life, for hopefully the better. The results of the fusing made his blood take on the properties of the basilisk venom. Making him immune to almost all poisons and venoms; a beneficial side effect was his blood started to decay what he now knows is the horcrux in his scar. His blood also had the curious result of taking on the characteristics of basilisk venom when removed from his body. Meaning it was poisonous to others if removed without his consent, though less corrosive.

With the slow break down of the soul shard in his scar, the memories of Voldemort's early life started to enter his mind. This at first was not an issue as they came slowly, and were barely a distraction, but as the process continued and as the soul shard weakend this increased the rate of memories being absorbed. When he had made it back to the Dursleys a week after the battle in the chamber he had a massive headache from absorbing Tom's memories up to his fifth year. As well as being moody from the conflicting and polarizing emotions associated with many of Tom's memories. After being warned of Marge's imminent arrival in three weeks and being locked in his room he took stock of his situation.

Searching his mind for a solution to his problem, which turned out to be more difficult that he thought due to the clutter of Tom's memories. When he found it he said a small thanks to Merlin that Tom started to practice Occlumency during his second year giving him the solution he needed. Using the mind arts that night he was able start building his mind palace and start to catch up on the backlog of memories from Tom's first 15 years of life. He sorted them by first removing the emotions of all the memories then sorting both the emotions and memories into specific rooms within his mind palace.

He decided to store Tom's emotions that where connected to memories in specific rooms separate from the memories in question. This allowed for him to access Tom's knowledge without having the emotional baggage, but also had the positive side effect of having a pure source of a specific emotion he may need to help fuel his magic in some spells.

Waking from his meditative trance by banging on his door from his cousin as he walked by, he realized he had spent the entire night sorting through Tom's memories. During that time he came to the conclusion that the rate of absorption of memories was increasing meaning that he would need more time without distractions to concentrate on his meditation and mind arts.

The other realization he made is that there was a change happening to his magic as well now that the soul shard in his scar was decaying. Going down stairs to get a quick meal he used the time to implant with legilimency the suggestion that that the Dursleys should ignore him for the remainder of the summer.

With hopefully his immediate Dursley issue fixed, he went upstairs to his room and made the decision to call out to Dobby. Quickly calming the house elf down after being called the greatest wizard ever, he was able to bind Dobby to him. Of course that was only after being negotiated down to paying him only 1 galleon a month rather than a day. Asking Dobby to provide him with meals and ensure that he eats them over the summer, he quickly dived back into sorting Tom's memories before he lost himself to them.

It took nearly two weeks for the horcrux to finish breaking down completely and for him to finish sorting through the memories. He had spent the entire two weeks between sleeping, eating, and the mind arts. By the time he had finished sorting the memories the amount of time he required for sleep had dropped to nearly nothing, with needing less than an hour throughout the day due to his near mastery of Occlumency.

After 'waking' from his meditative state when the last bit of horcrux quietly died as it had not enough energy left to even scream out with theatrics, he immediately felt a difference in his magic. It felt as if a blanket that he never knew that was smothering him had been lifted away. He felt his magic surging throughout his body fresh and clean like he had never felt it before.

Looking around the blurry room he took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes, only to open them to as far as he can tell perfect vision. He noticed a faint aura surrounding his various magical items in his room. The horcrux must have been damaging his sight as well as his magic, was the only conclusion he could come to. When the horcrux was finally fully destroyed it also seemed to have given him minor mage sight.

Besides feeling clean his magic stores had also massively increased as the constant drain from the soul shard had been removed. With the simple scan of his internals with his magic he determined that his control has increased to level just moderately below the ritually enhanced Voldemort.

He took the changes to himself in stride impart thanks to the occlumency, but also due the vast experience Tom had with undergoing magical and bodily changes during rituals. Once again thanking Merlin for the knowledge he was able to steal from Tom's soul, which brought a large amount of satisfaction to him at that thought.

Quickly finishing his meal provided by Dobby he decided to finish mastering occlumency by now going back through and sorting his own memories, this time keeping the emotions intact. Finishing his twelve years of life quickly in three days left him feeling far worse coming out of his trance than when he finished with Tom's memories.

During his review of his life he came to some startling conclusions. The first was that he was being set up by Dumbledore for something, he was not quite sure whether that was to be killed, be a martyr or the next leader of the light. Regardless of the outcome he wanted to be a part of none of it and with the constant tests or whatever they were that Dumbledore was clearly putting him through, he may end up dead before that. He also realized that Dumbles had failed to inform him about anything regarding his inheritance besides his trust vault, and even that is arguable. With Tom's memories and his own review of his life he came the realize a truth of life was that you needed power to protect yourself and your own... and power he will have.

The second was that he had been set up with the Weasleys on his way to the train platform. What wizarding family does not use the floo network as there is a fireplace on the platform or to apparate directly there. And after five children going to Hogwarts how could she not know where the platform was, is just ridiculous. This meant that his relationship with Ron had been largely fabricated.

Thirdly was the close comparison between Tom's and his own childhoods. Each being orphans who were raised by those who didn't want them there. Each abused by those same people that were supposed to take care of them. Dumbledore's refusal to allow either to stay at Hogwarts during the summer time to get away from the abusive homes. It was very striking and oddly disconcerting the similarities between themselves.

Finally was the way the wizarding world treated him. Never checking up on him throughout his life regardless of what Dumbledore says. The constant changing of opinion about himself from being their savior to the next dark lord walking. The disregard for anything he says whether it is a student or teacher, no one believes or listens to him.

Deciding that he needed a shower to help clear up his thoughts, he left his room and went to the bathroom. After finishing up in the bathroom he went to the kitchen to find the Dursleys and Marge who must have arrived while he was in his room performing the mind arts. Using the opportunity he waved his hand using a minor wandless compulsion and notice-me-not charm to ensure they left him and his things alone for the foreseeable future.

Returning to his room he decided to make some long term plans because he was not going to let his life play out to the plans of others. Besides some of the immediate concerns, he had some major events to plan, starting with the destruction of Tom's remaining horcruxes. While not an immediate concern it should be handled sooner rather than later due to Voldemort being active again in the first year, as well as the diary in the second.

He also needed to fix what damage had been done to his body by malnutrition and abuse by the Dursleys. Along with undertaking some improvement rituals that he now knew about from Tom's memories. He would do rituals to increase his healing factor, strength, magic, bones, flesh, reflexes, mind and eyes; but the first ritual he would undertake is to remove the trace and any other magics tied to him that Dumbles may have added. These rituals would not be quite as powerful as some of the ones that Tom underwent as he would prefer avoiding rituals that deform his natural look into a snake monster. The only snag is he needed to find a place to set up and ward a ritual room.

He also wanted to improve Tom's shortcomings in knowledge in runes, enchanting, alchemy, and potions. Especially potions as he saw how useful they could be from Tom's memories of some of the potions provide for him by Severus Snape. Another thing he would need to deal with.

However his main plans surrounded a memory that he had absorbed. That memory was of Tom's exploration into the death room in the Department of Mysteries in his search for immortality. He had found a ancient book on the function of the supposed veil of death. The book calls the arch a reality portal and explained that when properly used would send the user to another portal in an alternate reality. With instruction on how to safely activate and use the veil, his plans for his future where set. The book warned the the trip may be one way and that there was no real way to determine which reality that he would land in, this would mean he would have to thoroughly prepare for almost any eventuality that he may find himself in.

He planned to take his Newts in the summer after his Owls in fifth year. This was to give him ample time to prepare for his trip and the ability to gain access to his families vault and properties through being an adult wizard in the eyes of the law and magic. Throughout all this he would need to expand his knowledge of magic and science as well as practice his spells so they become magic memory.

The things he would need to prepare for his trip were: trunk with expanded size inside to allow him to take all his goods with him. As many pre-made potions that could be bought from the market without alarming anyone or alerting them to his move. The same for potion ingredients and live herb in stasis for planting when he is through the portal or whenever he needs them. He would have to try and get all he could even those considered 'dark', or even illegal. This should include that magical animals he will need to rear for their components as well. Just imagine in Hermione could see him planning out crimes like it didn't matter.

He would need an library of books to use on all things he could ever conceive of needing. He could have Dobby buy them, or steal them from some of the 'upstanding citizens' of Magical Britain. He may even be able to copy the one in Hogwarts but that would need more investigation.

He was not sure where he was going to land so he needed to have a large manor truck that he could spend serious amounts of time in if wherever he lands is inhospitable or too primitive. He was going to spend a pretty penny on it, but it was going to be worth it. Within it should be enough food for him and who ever he brings along for over a hundred years, just enough time to get off his ass and plants some more food.

This lead him to thinking about everyday goods he may lose access to and the serious supply he would need. Those would include, cloth, hides, wines, spirits, furniture, literature, both muggle and magical, movies, music, and as much data as he can get on a database in his trunk. He would also need things like deodorant, soaps, and other necessities one doesn't usually think of.

That got him thinking of all the trade goods he may want or need in the future so he added them to his list to. He would aim for huge quantities of woods, giving particular attention to those used often in the magical world, steel, copper, platinum, gold, goblin silver, mythril, blank wardstone, marble, granite, and a one meter block of every wood or metal for later possible duplication.

Thinking along the lines of not having access modern society, he decided to stock up on any tools he may need, for farming, building, and magical and mundane manufacturing. He would also need a large assortment of wands for himself if he loses his or even possible future little Potters if he ever makes that decision.

He would also need to learn how to harvest the basilisk corpse in the Chamber of Secrets for either potion supplies or seed money for his preparations. He could use some of the hide to make an armour for himself to test his runes and enchanting while in school. Which leads him to his next set of actions hitting up Diagon Alley and Gringotts to see how much money he has to work with.

Finally happy with his plans for the future he decided to take a long sleep with no meditation to ensure he is in top shape after his nearly three weeks of constant use of the mind arts.

The next morning when Dobby delivered his meal to him he asked if he was able to pop him to Diagon Alley. With Dobby excited confirmation that he was able to do this, he asked for Dobby to place a glamour on him to age him to 25 and change his appearance. With that done they appeared in a nook just off of the apparition point of the alley.

Walking down the alley he saw that it was fairly quiet compared to his other outings for school supplies. Figuring that this is because of many of the stores having just opened for the day and not being during the school rush. Entering Gringotts he quickly walked up to a teller to asked if he could see his account manager. With a quick trip and a meeting with his account manager Ripclaw, without his glamour and minus a bit of blood, he had the information and access he needed. As well as a fake muggle identity under the name of James Evans, aged 25 with all the correct paperwork.

Apparently the Potter family had contingencies in place in case no other member of the potter family main line where still alive. Meaning that at the age of 11 the potter heir can access the main family vaults as well as their trust vault. However they are not able to make any changes to businesses or properties. Probably another reason Dumbles kept this from him. This left him with a cool 550 million galleons to help prepare for his trip which is FAR more than he had expected to have to work with.

With a conversion to British Pounds that would be 3.85 Billion pounds at a 7:1 ratio. This would make him one of the wealthiest muggle or magical persons in Britain. With this in mind, a muggle credit card and a vault key with direct access to his vaults it was time to start preparing for his eventual departure.

A trip to the specialty trunk shop he setup an order for the largest expanded trunks that could be mass produced. Each trunk came with 625000 cubic meters of storage space or dimensions of 250m/250m/10m. It also included the ability to shrink, impervious charm, featherlight, password protected and wards to prevent unauthorized magical travel into the trunks. Each trunk came charmed with natural sunlight inside and air purifiers. He made an order for 200 trunks to be made each year for three years, and arranged with Dobby to be picking them up monthly, with an additional 25 to be available as soon as possible.

His last trunk he ordered was a customized manor trunk made out of beautiful ebony wood that would not be ready till nearly the next summer. It while also including the same features as the other trunks had an additional compartment. In this compartment there was to be very large Roman style villa with additional room surrounding it for a large set of gardens or a small forest to be planted. The villa would include multiple minor manors surrounding a central courtyard for use by upwards of 50 people. It will also have a potions lab, large outdoor hot springs and baths, and a hidden prison. Once the trunk was finished next summer he planned to add additional features that would personalize it to his needs.

It also contained another compartment to hold all the other trunks he would be taking with him. Inside the space would measure roughly 10kmx10kmx1km, with extra height so he and Hedwig could fly around if the itch presented itself. The Villa itself was 2km x 2km with about a half km of gap between it and the start of a massive forest the surrounded the villa and filled the rest of the space. It would be up to him and Dobby to grow that themselves. The villa would have all the amenities and some one could expect from the best resorts in the world. It also had a space for a ritual room to be created when he get the time to do so.

Before leaving he picked up a Mokeskin pouch to carry around his purchases for now till he can make something better himself. The cost of his first stop at a shop was staggering costing nearly 20 million galleons with a large chunk of that being the manor trunk itself. Wanting only the best he shrugs off the cost and walks out of the store leaving behind a gobsmacked store clerk having probably made a decades worth of sales in just under an hour.

With a quick stop at Flourish & Blotts to pick up some summer reading related to enchanting, potions, runes, arithmancy and cleaning out both the Cauldron shop and Slug and Jiggers Apothecary of nearly 80% of their potions and ingredient stocks he finished up in Diagon Alley.

After returning to the Dursleys he asked Dobby if he would be able to get gold from his vaults to make purchases while he was at Hogwarts. After being explained to him that house elves could enter their masters vaults if they wanted to as long as they were given permission. Dobby explained that it was standard practice for pure blood families to do this and have elves do most of their shopping for them.

He quickly realized the possibility that this would open up to him and confirmed with Dobby whether he could still access the Malfoy's Gringotts vaults and homes. With Dobby's confirmation that unless they specifically ordered otherwise he would still have access, his plans had to be updated. With plans to clear out as many Death Eater vaults before leaving he needed to get more help to prepare.

Deciding that he would explain his plans to Dobby about his leaving through the reality arch so that he could have him help prepare. This resulted in Dobby demanding to be allowed to come with him as life here for elves was not a good life. Asking Dobby if he knew of any other elves that needed a new bond to help them prepare as well.

Popping away and coming back just minutes later Dobby was accompanied by 3 other house elves. Two female and one male who looked to be in worse shape than Dobby had been when he first met him in the summer after his first year. Dobby explained that they wanted to come with master Harry to this new reality too. Quickly binding them he could see a change almost immediately and dismissed the other elves to recover as it was time to sit Dobby down and implement some of his changes to his plan.

Asking Dobby about how many elves he would be able to bond to without any negative effects gave him more perspective on just how much his magical power had increased. Dobby informed him that he was more than three times as strong as the average wizard in magical reserves department and that it would only continue to grow over the next few decades. Meaning that he would be able to bind dozens of house elves without issues and their minor magic drains on him would only serve to increase his natural recovery rate and growth as his core became used to the constant drain.

With all the information he needed, he hatched a plan with Dobby to save house elves from 'bad masters' by tricking them into releasing them. He explained to Dobby that it would be as easy as the elf in question snagging a piece of clothing as it is being discarded. More specifically he told Dobby to try and get house elves that were bonded to Death Eaters, so that when they finally plan to leave, they could have the elves clean them out of anything valuable.

With excitement and apprehension entering Dobby's eyes he quickly understood what he was fearing. Explaining his massive preparation plans to Dobby relieved his fears that their would not be enough work for all the elves he would be binding. Explaining that Dobby should delegate new elves into either helping with purchases and procurement or with setting up new position ingredient farms in the expanded trunks as they had both sunlight and air charms, and enough room for growth of both animals and plants. He also told him he would he to make large purchases of fertilizer and soil probably from the muggles.

With this much of the work needed to be done for preparation being left the the house elves, all he now needed to do was set Dobby up with a muggle warehouse for muggle goods to be delivered to and he would be set. Telling Dobby to use one of the spare trunks to set up as living space for the house elves would also solve their basic needs too.

With a trip to the phone and the use of the phone book he was able to call a realtor about a warehouse in London. Using his credit card he was started to rent a large warehouse on the River Thames for 4 years under his assumed name of James Evans.

Asking Dobby about whether he knows of any rituals spaces that he could use or purchase led him to learning about the 'come and go room'. With Tom's memories he knew of the room of lost things, where he stored one of his horcruxes, but he was unaware of the additional features that the room had. With his ritual plans set for the future he decided to take a walk down to a corner store to get Dobby a cellphone to make orders with.

Taking Hedwig out on his shoulder so she could get some flying in he left the house. During his walk through the park near his place he felt the presence of a magical entity. Observing a hound that was strikingly similar to one from his early memories in the bushes with a slight magical glow about him, Harry took a chance and confronted what he believed to be a animagus.

This is where he met his God Father for the first time since his parents had been murdered by Voldemort. After holding his godfather at wand point he was able to obtain and binding magical oath from him not to share his secrets or to betray him. Even though Sirius had explained that his godfather oath already insured that, but Harry was adamant about getting another oath for reassurance.

With the tensions reduced now, they both decided to have a chat in the park to catch up with each other. Sirius shared the circumstances of his arrest and the betrayal of Harry's parents by Pettigrew. Already knowing most of this from Tom's memories, he was not terribly surprised and only commented that the way Sirius was treated seems to be on par with actions by the Ministry of Magic that he had observed.

Deciding to share his plans about using the reality arch with Sirius. He told Sirius all of the things he was able to determine about his life and how he was being controlled and setup by Dumbles. How the wizarding world treated him and how about he wanted a fresh start not in either the muggle world with his relatives or magical world that treats him like garbage. He even told him about absorbing the memories of Tom, even if he was very hesitant to do so fearing that his godfather may reject him.

His fears were unfounded however, as Sirius was upset that he was forced into this path, but more than understanding telling Harry that when Harry leaves he is going to come with him as well as start over where ever they landed. With Sirius commitment to helping him prepare and to join him, made him feel almost giddy inside. He was also able to convince Sirius not to go to Hogwarts and let him handle the rat as he had a great use for that traitor. Convincing Sirius to go back to his family home ended up being the more difficult conversation.

Pointing out that his home had a vast library that could help both of them as well as extensive wards to hide him from the Ministry. After sending Sirius on his way he quickly went and purchased one of those blockly cell phones that were available at the electronics store and returned back to the Dursleys.

With the cellphone in Dobby's hand and a warning to not use too much magic on it or around it, he took a deep breath knowing that all of his preparation plans were underway. Sending a note to Deputy Headmistress Mcgonagall to change his electives to Runes and Arithmancy he decided to continue improving his knowledge through self study.

The only other thing of note that happened that summer was when he went to Grimmauld Place to get some books from Sirius, he recognized the house elf from Tom's memories. After being confronted, Kreacher told them the story about Regulus and the Horcrux that he failed to destroy. After calling the sword of Gryffindor to him he asked Kreacher for the locket. Putting it on the ground he used Parseltongue to open it up and draw the soul shard out which he stabbed. With the locket cleaned of magic he put it away in his pouch and laughed at how Sirius's home life has now improved dramatically with a happy house elf around.

During his third year at Hogwarts he decided to not change his relationship with any of his friends, as he did not want to draw more of Dumbles attention to himself. Rather he informed Ron that he would need to study far more due to changing his electives. This had the predictable effect of pissing Ron off and giving him nearly a month of uninterrupted studying with Hermione.

The train ride was far more uneventful as it could have been as his reaction to the Dementors was far lessened due to him no longer possessing a soul shard in his scar. His first action when he got to school was to capture Scabbers in a transfigured cage that he then put in one of his locked trunks in stasis.

When the Twins presented him with the Marauders Map he was happy as it was a major boon that allowed for him to move around the school even more stealth. To reinforce this the first ritual that he performed in the Room of Requirement during September was the cleansing ritual to remove all traces and foreign magic tied to him, and prevented it from happening in the future again. This would allow him to use a wand for magic when he is outside of school without being tracked or reported to the Ministry.

Something he did not expect on top of everything else was another block on his magic, which meant he gained even more power when the ritual was completed. However what it did mean was that perfectly harmless and painless ritual ended up being excruciating as his body got accustomed to the extra level of power. He was not sure who did it, and he could honestly only think of Dumbles, and even if it was not him he should have had it removed before.

With all traces gone from him he finally went to the Chamber of Secrets again to harvest the Basilisk. After completing the harvest and storing the material away into his trunk that was shrunk in his pocket, he had his materials needed for his personal armour project. Deciding that he needed to prepare for his first major ritual he concentrated on studying runes and ritual magic.

On the winter equinox he performed his first major ritual in the RoR. It also was also the one and only black magic ritual he was going to perform. The ritual was a power enhancing ritual that would boost his magic reserves and recovery while also not compromising his control. It could only be performed on the winter equinox and required many magical animal parts; but more importantly it required the live sacrifice of a wizard or witch.

Taking Scabbers out and placing him in one of the circles in the middle of the ritual diagram, he entered the circle opposite of the rat. Not even bothering to wake the Pettigrew before he was consumed by fires of the ritual, he slashed his arm so that his blood would quickly empower the ritual circle. After a few minutes of searing pain through his body, that to him felt like hours, the ritual was complete and his magical power had a noticeable increase, and made him smile in excitement.

When Christmas came around, Hermione took his Firebolt he received from Sirius to their head of house, he was able to finally let go on his misgivings about not informing her about his preparations to leave the wizarding world. He felt that even with an oath she would somehow work around it to inform others of his leaving. However unlike Ron he still felt that she was a true friend to him and would treat her as such.

After the holidays where done he decided to finally deal with the horcrux that was in the RoR. It was quick and easy to locate the tiara due to his sensitivity to Voldemort's soul and Tom's past memories. Looking around at all of the items in the room he called Dobby to him and asked him if he or the other 14 elves bound to him (Dobby had found 11 additional elves throughout the first part of the year) need additional work they could clean out and sort the items found in the RoR. He told him to sell the junk and duplicates more than five on any non super rare items and store the rest away for when they leave through the arch. He also told him to store any personal items such as clothes and toiletries as those could be useful later.

For the remainder of the year he spent working in the RoR on designing a Library Index Stone. It was to store any books he needed, potentially an unlimited amount, and when queried on a topic or subject it would provide a list of books available on said topic. It would on request of a book, provide a temporary copy of the book that would last about a week to read, never risking the original that is stored in the trunk. It could also provide books that were compilations of many books related to a topic. The copies lifespan could be increased by giving it more magic on it's creation. He wanted to create the LIS in a large 200 carat diamond he had in his family vault. He wanted to use diamond as it can store the most magic of any of the precious gems. This would allow him to constantly imbue more magic into stone through runes and by personally injecting it in.

With more magic the protections and abilities of the LIS would increase to a point that far in the future it would be able to provide a far more detailed and exact response to queries and be nearly indestructible. The gemstone would then be attached to a mythral chain to go around his neck that would be charmed to not be noticed by others and be impossible to remove without permission. With the school year at an end, Ron's and his relationship had deteriorated throughout the year, even though he made efforts to keep up appearances.

His third summer was far less busy than his second but arguably more exciting. He spent the first bit of his summer being updated by Dobby, binding more elves he had 'rescued', and continuing his studies. He wanted to ensure that by the time he stepped through that portal that he would have all the magical knowledge that he would need and for the more esoteric topics he could use his LIS. As well as a basic university understanding of the sciences. This meant that there was really no break from his studies and practice in the time before he leaves. His new manor trunk that Dobby had picked up made this far easier to swallow.

Sleeping in his beautiful white-marble greco-roman manor definitely improve his overall mood. The daily soak in the hotsprings did not hurt either. He also had Dobby collect the rare ingredients he needed for his body enhancing rituals next year at Hogwarts.

The first task he completed of the summer was to retrieve the horcrux ring in Little Hangleton. Now that he no longer had the trace on him he apparated to just outside the decrepit shack. Already knowing the protections that surrounded it made for a far easier retrieval. After using the Gryffindor sword to stab the ring band another horcrux was finally destroyed. Noticing the native magic still that remained in the stone set in the ring and that it was extremely similar if not identical to that of his cloak he decided to take the stone with him.

While he was recovering the horcrux at Little Hangleton Sirius was getting Hufflepuffs cup out of Bellatrix's vault. As Lord Black he had access to the vault due to the wording of her marriage contract. With the cup recovered and disposed of as long as Voldemort's spirit is not tied to something it should dissipate naturally ending his reign of terror.

He also spent the summer working on a runic array to funnel ambient magic into his trunks. This was to insure the ingredient farms stored within the manor trunk storage area had enough magic for the plants and animals to prosper. It would also prevent any of the enchantments, charms, or runic arrays from degrading. This was a tricky process as if too much magic was funneled into the trunk than it would explode spectacularly. He made the runic array to be adjustable so that it could be increased or decreased depending on how many trunk farms where inside.

His final addition to the trunk was a set of blood wards put on it to ensure that it could return to him at any moment just by calling it to himself. This was to prevent it from being lost or stolen because if he lost this trunk he would lose all the other trunks as well. It also had the benefit of ensuring the trunk would draw on his magic automatically to ensure that it would not fail and the charms and enchantments would be in top shape.

Nearly at the end of the summer he got a surprise invitation to the quidditch world cup from the Weasleys, along with a letter from Ron apologizing and trying to reconcile. This was more than likely Dumbles doing which is the reason that he decided to accept the invitation. Sirius said he would be attending incognito as he would not be missing a cup on British soil.

Storing all of his stuff in his manor trunk and shrunk it down to put in his pocket he made his way outside to the waiting Weasley transportation. The game in itself was decent, what was truly exciting was the chance he got to test his spell casting out. That being against the half dozen or so of Death Eaters that attacked him during the celebration. During the afterparty he was able to kill two of the attacking Death Eaters before the others retreated.

Quickly getting out of the immediate area surrounding the bodies allowed him to escape from the Aurors who apparated in just after he left. It amused him to no end that their leader was already gone and they didn't even know it. Believing in Voldemort's power to come back from the dead, while not completely incorrect in their belief, it did still crack him up a bit. It also confirmed his belief that Voldemort is just a symptom of the problem that is prevalent throughout the magical world. He was shocked by how easy it was for him to take their lives, but chalked it up to being completely willing to take lives defending himself.

The fourth year was by far the most annoying and liberating of his years at Hogwarts. It also served to be extremely beneficial for him as well. When they arrived at the school they found out that the Triwizard tournament would be held at Hogwarts this year. On top of that quidditch would be canceled, which he was actually not unhappy about as it would give him even more free time for his projects. He only really enjoyed quidditch for the flying and not so much the game, making his position on the team perfect.

When the champions were selected, with him being included, it threw the first major wrench into his plans since he made them in the second year summer break. Before entering the side chamber as directed, he stopped and informed the entire great hall that he had not entered himself into the tournament and had asked no one to enter him on his behalf, before quickly leaving to the side chamber. He didn't truly believe that anyone would believe him as he has been shown in the past that they would not, but he could only hope.

After being told that he must compete in the tournament as it was a binding contract, he demanded a copy of the full rules and contract, to the disagreement of Dumbles. Coming to his defense Barty Crouch Sr. happily handed over the requested copies.

His return to the dorm room was met with him being disdained and ridiculed by his own house mates. The only one not completely against him seemed to once again be Hermione. Ron seemed to be leading the charge and not pulling any punches in being angry with him.

That night he spent reading through the huge volume of rules for the tournament. A few things about the tournament rules and conditions stood out and honestly brought a smile to his face. According to the rules as soon as his name came out of the goblet of fire he was considered an adult as only of age wizards are able to compete in the tournament. The second was that he was able to leave Hogwarts grounds whenever he required for training. The third being that he did not need to attend any of his classes or having to do the homework assigned, including exams. He thanked Merlin that the Potter luck seems to be on his side for once.

Now he no longer needs to wait till the end of his fifth year to gain access to his family properties and businesses. Not wanting the Ministry to have anything they can seize from his family when he ends up disappearing and more than likely pissing off many government officials. He calls to Dobby and explains what is going on and that they will be pushing their departure date up by one year. Dobby ensured him that they would have all the preparations done before the end of his year, and would inform Sirius as well.

Writing a quick letter to Ripclaw explaining the tournament and his emancipation. He also gave instructions to start liquidating all properties and businesses owned by the Potters. This will help bolster his dwindling horde of gold that has been disappearing at an alarming rate by Dobby procuring goods for their trip. Dobby's shopping trips and orders had left him with just over 100m galleons at this moment in time. He also told him to put the licences owned by the family into a trust for possible future branch family member who inquire about the gold.

Using the extra time not spent in classes and being ridiculed by Snape he finished his preparations for his rituals he wanted to perform before leaving. Before the first task he performed his body enhancing ritual. This ritual took three days to complete in which he was in constant pain the whole time. The ritual strengthened his bones to that of level of dragon bones, strengthening his cells to that of the resilience of Basilisk flesh, Re'em's blood for increased strength, Troll's blood for regeneration, and finally Nundu brain and sinews for cat like reflexes and an expanded mindscape. In real terms this meant that he was nearly five times as strong as an average person, that a steel blade would still cut him but would have a much more difficult time doing so and the wound would heal in a matter of minutes. It would be incredibly hard for him to break his bones now and his reflexes and area sense nearly doubled from before the ritual.

While the ritual entirely changed his makeup on the inside there was no outward tell of him performing the ritual, other than a slight increase in the health of his skin. This was one of the reasons he chose to do this ritual first before the others, which would have outward effects. It was also to do in part with him wanting to be more durable for the tournament, as he had no idea what he was facing. The ritual he performed was one that Voldemort had considered but had went with another more powerful ritual that gave him the snake like appearance.

The first event of the tournament was the wand weighing, the event itself was completely boring and annoying, especially for the reporter that would not take no for an answer to an interview. However during the event he discovered that Dumbles' wand was giving off the same exact feeling that he got from both his cloak and the stone he picked up.

Once he made that connection, his memories from Tom about the Deathly Hallows popped to the forefront of his mind. While he did not believe in the death entity or the title of master of death, he did believe that if someone gained all three that there would be some power associated with them. Also having the most powerful wand in existence would never hurt, so he made plans to steal the wand from Dumbles before he took off for good.

So many things that needed doing, so little time during the year. Even though he had to plan for the tasks and doing his other preparations he was able to finish up his Library Index Stone. He also created a second smaller one to give away to Hermione when he leaves as a going away gift. He used the room of requirement to copy all the books that had ever passed through the halls of Hogwarts. There did not even need to be a copy present today, which allowed him to gain oodles of banned knowledge.

Arriving at the first task he finally found out what he was facing, that being a dragon. He was not too surprised as there had been dragons in previous tournaments. The task was stupidly simple as all he had to do was use and advanced summoning spell on the fake egg, teleporting it to his hand. Smirking at the fact they had only warded the egg against a simple acio. Getting nearly perfect points didn't seem to matter too much to him because in the end only the third task actually mattered.

He completed his second ritual of the year after the first task. It was a much more minor ritual; but still incredibly useful. The ritual added a second layer of protection around his eyes, a 100% transparent shield or shell around his eyeballs. This hard shell would allow for him to take a small caliber bullet to the eye without them being damaged. It also protected them from environmental changes such as dry climate or gasses, it even could protect the eyes from the vacuum of space. The final benefit of the ritual was a small increase to his natural and mage sight.

Harry decided to attend the Ball with the French Champion, Fleur. He had a wonderful evening, dancing most of it away, and even got his first real kiss when he dropped her off at her school's coach at the end of the night. She seemed to really appreciate a partner who was not drooling all over her dress while dancing.

The second task nearly made him drown, and not for the reason people may think. It was because when he finally got to where he needed to rescue his hostage, he found Ron there in stasis, he could not stop laughing. For nearly five minutes the Merfolk looked at him like he was crazy as he could barely get his bearings to untie Ron and return him to the Dock. He ended up finishing First again even though he lost precious time trying to drown himself by laughing his ass off. The whole task and tournament just continued to confirm his beliefs about the wizarding world in that they were incredibly stupid and ignorant almost all the time. The idea that Dumbles still believed that Ron was something he would 'miss dearly' was as he proved in the lake, laughable.

During the third task his final loose end was solved for him. When he entered the end of the maze before anyone else, he saw that the cup was charmed to be a portkey. Assuming it would teleport him to the judges he grabbed onto it. Much to his surprise he landed in the graveyard at Little Hangleton. Quickly assessing the situation and feeling Voldemort's presence nearby he drew his wand for battle. Sending a dark cutting curse at the death eater holding the Voldebaby he was able to decapitate him before he had a chance to react. If the shocked squeak that came from the Voldebaby as he was dropped to the ground was anything to go by Voldemort was not expecting that.

Sensing another soul shard nearby he turn to see a snake about to lunge at him, so he sent another cutting curse to remove this final horcrux, hopefully. Vanishing the corpse of the snake he turned to Voldemort and with a quick fiendfyre Voldemort was vanquished for the final time. No wraith came forth to flee to somewhere meaning that Voldemort was finally dead.

Vanishing all evidence of the fight he made sure that he was presentable and grabbed the cup again activating the portkey to return to Hogwarts. Acting like nothing had happened besides him winning and denying Dumbles questions of anything out of ordinary proved to be the right course of action as he was back in his room within hours. Not wanting to celebrate with the house that shunned him, he cast a notice-me-not on his bed and entered his manor trunk.

He spent his time on the train with Hermione making sure to talk throughout the entire time with her, not letting her read, as this would be almost certainly the last time they will get to see each other. Giving her a big hug after they got to the platform he took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron. Once in the alley he headed directly to the bank to clean out his vaults of the proceeds of the sale of his properties and businesses. He also sets up a vault for Hermione with ten million galleons, the smaller LIS that has a copy of every book he obtained muggle and magical, and a communication mirror that he had improved on the off chance they can work through the barriers realities. He left a letter in the vault explaining his reasons for leaving and where he was going, and that another letter would be delivered when she is thirty with instruction on how to follow if that was something she wanted to really do still after all that time.

The letter also included a recommendation that she move to America where the bigotry was not nearly as strong; informing her that she would only ever be able to get a position as a secretary in the Ministry no matter how well she performs. He set up with the bank to send her a letter informing her about her new vault and his letter in it in a few days.

He called Dobby and had him ensure all of their trunks where within the manor trunk storage and that all the elves would have the next 16 hours to clean out their previous masters. Dobby had managed to have him bind nearly 250 elves total, not all coming from abusive families, but a large minority did. With over 100 trunk farms started and managed by the elves there was plenty of work for them. Clearing out all those vaults of Death Eaters and bigots would mean a potentially major additional windfall, not that he needed one with getting nearly 150m additional galleons from the sale of his properties and businesses.

Apparating to Hogsmeade and disillusioning himself he entered Honeydukes and went to the secret passage that he had found on the Marauder's map. Using the secret tunnel Harry make his way to Hogwarts where he donned his invisibility cloak and went to the RoR. He needed to perform the final rituals that he was going to use. He could only do these ones just before he left unless he wanted to be caught using illegal ritual magic and sent to happy floaty demon land called Azkaban due to their outward effects

The rituals he planned to perform where quick with only about an hours pain and burning from each, however the second would knock him out. The first was a ritual of Basilisk Venom and Phoenix tears, tailored specifically for him. This ritual would bring his body to where it should have been without the malnutrition. It also fixed any damage done to his body by removing all his surface scars. It also put him into ideal shape, removing what little body fat he had and replacing it with toned and defined muscles, this would extend to perfect any flaws he may have had too.

The final ritual he would perform was a permanent ageing and anti-aging effect. This ritual would age him up to about the age of 25 years old then slow is aging by nearly 85% for his remainder of years. Tom believed this is one of this rituals that Dumbledore had performed on himself.

Once he awakened from the final ritual he cast a quick tempus to find that it was in the late afternoon. He had the RoR create a mirror in front of him so he could see his new appearance. He was far taller than he expected at about 6 foot 3 in or 190cm. His face was more refined and elegant while still not quite being called beautiful. His agile slim frame had filled out and now he was broad across the shoulders and his muscles had grown appropriately with his size. He looked like an Olympic swimmer or athlete. His hair and nails all were all sleeker and looked as if they had been better maintained. Quickly calling Dobby so he could send a letter to Sirius letting him know they are leaving soon and to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron.

Re donning his invisibility cloak as essentially a new man, he made his way through Hogwarts hallways and waited outside of Dumbledore's office just in front of the gargoyle. Waiting for Dumbledore to return from his evening meal in the great hall, he had time to do a mental checklist to ensure he had all he needed for his trip, which came back positive. Dumbledore failed to notice anything out of the ordinary and said the password for his office. As the words left Dumbles lips, he cast a silent stunner and hit him directly in the back from point blank range.

Grabbing a draught of the living death from his Mokeskin pouch he banished the potion into Dumbles stomach. The potion would ensure that he would be out of commission until the time they had already left through the arch. Even if he got the antidote it would still take 24 hrs for the potion to work it way though his system, leaving him groggy. Grabbing Dumbles wand he felt a surge of power going from the wand, cloak and stone into his magical core. The energy of the hallows was being drained into his core, expanding it. Once his core had finished expanding he was nearly twice as powerful as before; but he also noticed that both the cloak and wand no longer had any energy left in them but still seemed to function. This relieved him as he was worried about possible future House Elf population growth and whether he would be able to maintain bonding with them and the next generation. Also made him a bit proud as he was probably the most power wizard in over a millennia.

Moving into the headmasters office he quickly searched Dumbles desk after breaking the protections he had on it. Finding some interesting tools such as the device to sap light sources, there was also a time turner removing his need to get one from the DoM; but the holy grail so to say of this search was finding the Philosopher's stone. The bugger had only claimed to have destroyed it, probably planning to use it to extend his own life. He would then fake his death and come back later and a younger descendant or a member of a branch family. Snagging the stone and the instructions on it use he called Dobby to clear out Dumbles office as well as Snape's potions and ingredients storeroom, he had finished what he wanted to do in Hogwarts. Standing with a hand on the wall he said his goodbyes to the school, not sure if the only home he or Tom had known would understand him, hopefully it did. He also grabbed the sword of Gryffindor that was place on a shelf.

Going over to the Floo and using it he quickly went to the Leaky Cauldron where he found Sirius. Both moved into the alleyway and found a nook to enter his trunk in where Sirius would stay for the rest of the journey. Ensuring that Hedwig and all the Elves where in the trunks or looting prior masters, he waited till it was near midnight. Exiting his trunk he cast all sorts of spells to ensure he was not detected when he entered the Department of Mysteries. Moving through the ministry towards the DoM he was appalled at the lack of wards or even security checkpoints. He made it all the way to the death room without even having to unlock a single door. Had no one ever heard of the locking charm, Colloportus, or even a simple physical lock and key?

Deciding that their security was appalling he moved around the various rooms looting more books, artifacts and even took a few more Time Turners, just in case, before moving onto the Death Room.

So there he found himself standing in front of the so called Veil of Death waiting for Dobby to inform his that all the elves had returned. Dobby popped into the room in his basilisk armour that I had made for while creating my own in during the last year.

"All of the elves are in the trunks, master Harry" exclaimed Dobby excitedly.

Standing there in front of the portal to his future, to say he was not a little anxious would be a lie. "Alright Dobby go into the trunk as well" he replied. After Dobby had entered the trunk, he placed all his items besides his armour and a dagger into the trunk and he shrunk it down to its smallest size. Using the dagger he made a small incision into his arm. Placing the trunk into his arm and sealing it back up with a healing spell he looked back up at the portal. He did this to just ensure that he and the trunk could not get separated during travel.

Tapping the correct runes on the frame that lifted the Veil that protects from people entering this reality or leaving if it has not be lifted or a magical handshake sent through. He started to inject raw magical power into the frame of the arch causing a mirror like surface portal to appear. Taking one last glance around the room and a wordless goodbye to this world he touched the portal and was sucked away.

Chapter End.

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A/N: For first time readers I hope you enjoyed your first experience of Harry here, and hope you enjoy the second chapter which should be posted alongside the first shortly. I am not sure what length the chapters will be in the future, I believe they may vary in size from 4k-16k words in size depending on how I am feeling so don't take the next chapter as normal. I do not want to write a bit and then hold onto it just to meet a quota on chapter size, as I might not be able devote the time to this story.

DIFFERENCES FROM OTHER VERSION FOR READERS FROM MY OTHER STORY:

Sirius goes with Harry through the portal.

Harry rituals are a bit more powerful, and one of them improves his mind too.

Did a bit more preparation.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here is chapter two. Hopefully you all enjoy the real start to the new story.

Thanks to joaomanuelarelomansogoncalves for betaing.

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Chapter:

Harry came flying out of the portal, the experience was extremely disorientating, as in one second he was there in the Death Room touching the portal and the next he is flying out onto a rocky outcropping. Thankfully his enhancements were workings as otherwise he may have had more than just a few minor bruises, he got up and looked around his environment taking it in.

He appeared to have landed in a mountain range, that had a sprawling forest with towering trees of a size that one would no longer see on Earth, mainly due to logging over the past few centuries. Taking a deep breath of the crisp cold air he realized suddenly that the magic in the environment here was far more concentrated than on Earth.

Almost panicking he quickly conjured a blade and cut his trunk out of his arm. Putting it on the ground he resized it and opened it up and entered. Standing around the entrance in the middle of the park was Sirius and Dobby both looking at him expectantly waiting for what he had to say.

"It looks like we have arrived on another Earth like planet, and from what I can tell the magic here is far more potent than at home, as it almost seems physical with its concentration." he said to their expectant looks while grabbing his personal items on a table just inside the trunk. He also put on his Basilisk armour he had been working on underneath his clothes. "Well let's head up, as I need to adjust the magic funneling array to compensate for this additional magic in the environment." he said finishing as he made his way up the stairs and outside of the trunk.

Not bothering to wait for the others, he tapped a section on the side of the trunk that made a small piece slide out that allowed him to adjust the wards on the trunk. After modifying the array quickly, he watched as the other two made their way out of the trunk and started to look around the area. First thing Sirius did was complain and start casting magical warming charms on himself.

Harry had not really noticed that it was that cold and realized that this must have been one of the unexpected side effects of the rituals he performed. Though being less affected by temperatures would logically come with a more robust body. "Merlin's balls Harry, it's cold, how are you not complaining?" Sirius asked.

Looking a bit sheepish he answered. "The rituals I performed seemed to have given me a bit of an additional protection from the elements that I was not really expecting." he answered a bit happy about the discovery.

"I am still surprised you did so many rituals on yourself, even with the knowledge from Voldemort." Sirius said bringing up the topic again. It was not that Sirius was against doing rituals or anything, it was the he feared the risk of Harry making a mistake and possibly killing himself in the process. Any small mistake mid ritual could be catastrophic for the person performing it.

"I felt comfortable doing so, you know that. Now we just needs to figure out where we are and where to go from here." he said while looking around at the seemingly never ending mountain range, as there was mountains in every direction he looked. One thing Harry had noticed about the magic in the environment, was that it did not seem to be coming from any one source, which lead him to believe it was the natural level of magic of this place or there were multiple small sources spread throughout the land.

However that meant he had no direction to follow based on the concentration of magic. Deciding to simply use an overpowered Homo Revelio charm, he pulled out the Elder Wand and used far more power than the charm was ever designed for and powered it up to the range of 400 miles before casting. The information from the charm rushed into his mindscape and gave him a feeling of relief.

"Apparently there are humans here on this planet. That is a relief." he said to his companions.

"Well I would hate to be stuck here with only you Harry. I am sorry to tell you, but you just do not have the right parts for me to live happily alone with for the rest of my life." Sirius said jokingly to lighten up the mood. It was just a relief to both of them that they were somewhere that was shockingly Earth like and had humans. Even if there were very few, as the charm had only picked up a few thousand in range.

They both turned around to look at the runes that were carved into the face of the mountain, that apparently was this side's portal. It was completely different from what they had on their own side, being only runes carved into a flat face of the mountain. Deciding it would be best to ward the area, Harry quickly pulled out a runestone and had Sirius help cast wards over the area to protect the portal that may be their only chance to go home.

"So should we use our brooms and start heading towards the large group of humans in that direction?" Harry said pointing toward what he believed to be south, and in the direction where his spell had indicated.

"I don't see any other options, and I don't feel to much like hiking across a mountain range." Sirius replied while looking over the dense forested valley below.

Harry removed his broom from his pouch and mounted up as Sirius did the same. They were going to be flying for over an hour and would use the time to explore their new home a bit. Even with their brooms impressive speeds of 150 miles per hour, it would take a while to get to their destination. Therefor they put some windblocking charms to keep comfortable and notice-me-nots to prevent anyone from seeing them. Sirius was able to show him the charm and he was not entirely sure why he didn't know of it before, seeings it would have been extremely useful in Quidditch.

Their trip was fairly boring, but the mountain range quickly gave way to a massive forest of trees, some of which neither of them had seen before, mixed in with others they recognized. There were white ones with red leaves and bizarrely even seemed to have faces carved into them. He had his Elves collect some samples of the various trees they saw and had not encountered before. It could be useful in the future for whenever they decide to settle down.

The white trees also seemed to be sources of magic, as they were producing magic and releasing it into the environment. With the number they has seen it was clearly enough to increase the overall magic saturation of the area. These could become very useful in the future if he studied them a bit more.

From what they could see it was clear that this land was almost a virgin landscape and lead him to believe that the people here were fairly primitive by Earth standards. There did not seem to be any pollution in the air and the average height of the trees told a similar story.

That was confirmed by their first human structure they had run into, it was a tower within the forest that was broken down and abandoned, but told of a fairly basic original design, somewhat of a medieval era design. It also looked like it had not be inhabited for many hundreds of years and the only sign of people were some small camps, probably used by hunters. While Harry was checking out the tower Sirius had changed to his dog form and was inspecting their surroundings.

"Harry there are some really odd smells here I have not smelt before." Sirius answered after he changed back as they were mounting their brooms to continue their journey.

"I would imagine that there would be something interesting here. The level of magic alone should guarantee that we will find many magical plants and animals." he replied. Unfortunately they could see little from the air as the forest was extremely dense and they could make out little through the canopy.

Continuing their travels brought them to the end of the forest that was quickly replaced by farmland were they could see the odd farmer and person traveling on the only road they had encountered so far. However the whole area was a bit cold as it seemed they were fairly north on the planet, as there were crops in the fields and it was only a dozen degrees or so above freezing. They observed what appeared to be a hunter approaching the forest they had come from, and it gave Harry an idea.

"Sirius, we should capture that hunter when he is farther in the forest and glean some information from him, we may need it before we attempt any greetings with the locals." he said while looking to the black haired man beside him.

"How do you plan to get information out of him?" Sirius asked as he watched the man with a bow walk into the forest as they swooped lower on their brooms to follow at a slow pace.

"I was thinking I would just use a bit of Legilimency, as we can't be even sure if they speak the same language as us." he said to Sirius while pulling out his wand so he could stun the hunter who was clad in leathers. As they made it deep enough into the forest to not be seen from anyone outside Harry fired off one of his red stunners into the back of the hunter, who dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Sirius jumped off his broom and rolled the man over for them to get a good look at. He was not too different from people on Earth, even compared to those of modern day. He was over six feet tall and that was something you would not have commonly seen on Earth in this era. He was healthy and seemed to be fairly clean with only a bit of dirt build up from a few days or so. Though he could smell a bit better, it was not overwhelming or even largely noticeable.

Deciding now was a good of a time as any, Harry turned the mans faces towards him and gently pried open his eyelids. Looking into the man's eyes he started his Legilimency attack. His goal was to copy as much information about this world that the man had and to learn any languages they may need. Apparently this man only knew a bit, but enough that it took almost an hour for Harry to carefully copy the memories into his own mind. While he could have gone faster, it would have left the hunter with brain damage of some degree.

Apparently they were in some land called Westeros, and were in the northern province, aptly called The North. The North was split amongst many different lords, in a semi-feudalistic society, who all paid fealty to a Lord Stark who then paid it to the king on the Iron Throne in King's Landings much further south. There was actually common laws amongst the various provinces which placed their level of societorial advanced either in the later medieval period or even beyond.

However from what he could learn from the man, the technology here was strangely lacking in many areas. Though magic was a known quantity, but rarely seen, so that may be part of the reason. The even stranger thing was that everyone here in Westeros spoke English and many animals, plants, and even the names for them, were the same here as on Earth. That really made him think about how there may have been possible interaction in the past between the two places.

"Sirius this place seems to have English as the official language, so we do have that going for us." he said to the man who had been waiting patiently while he searched the hunters mind. "We are currently in the North of a realm called The Six Kingdoms. The people here are fairly primitive, so we will need to glamour our clothes not to stick out too much." he said as he pulled his broom back out of his pouch before continuing.

"The lands we are currently in are controlled by a Lord Stark, who is also the Lord Paramount of all the North." he said as they both remounted their brooms and applied their charms to themselves again. "His castle is the one we saw in the distance." he finished as he sent a Rennervate to wake the hunter back up.

"Did you learn anything about any magic users of this land?" Sirius asked while they started to take off southward again.

"There is magic, and it is known by many, but it is mostly relegated to stories and examples like dragons. Which apparently the last of died out just recently." he said to Sirius before looking over to him. "Get this, the ruling family of this kingdom was known for riding dragons into battle, and conquered all these lands with their help." he said to the gobsmacked look on the old wizard.

"They must have had some powerful magic." Sirius said as he pondered the idea of riding around on a dragon.

"That's just it, they really didn't. It seemed like they had some sort of bond with dragons, or one of their ancestors must have performed some bloodline magic giving them all this ability." Harry said as he thought over what he had learnt, and apparently the only other form of magic the Targaryen's were known for was the odd seer. Or as they are called in this land Greenseerers.

"So then pup, what is the plan?" Sirius asked looking over at him seriously, no pun intended.

"Well there does seem to be a lot of different places we could visit and learn about before we finally decide on a place to settle down at." he said while the flew at a leisurely pace. "We should probably get off our brooms to approach the town by foot for now. Also I am not quite sure if I am ready to settle anywhere. I kind of want to see some of this world, like I never did on Earth." he said to a pained look on Sirius's face about the reminder of his childhood.

"Well that works for me as well. Maybe we can find us some nice looking ladies to settle down with." Sirius said wagging his eyebrows up and down, which Harry rolled his eyes at his Godfather's antics. But he also appreciated him changing the subject. "What do I need to know about this place we are going?"

"Well the typical feudal society rules apply, ie lords get away with basically anything. However there are some exceptions due to the central rule here." he said. "I would just stick with being polite. I don't imagine we will stay too long. Just enough to get a feel for the place." he said as they put their brooms away and started on the few mile trek to the town that bordered Winterfell castle.

On their way southward the amount of people they saw increased and the density of farms and homes along with the people. As they passed a few farmers they got friendly nods or waves in greeting which they returned as they went on their ways. They approached Winter town which was the town that surrounded Winterfell, and paused before the entrance looking at the small outer wall and the guards watching those enter the town. The guards seemed to just be doing some small checks on those bringing in a large amount of goods. Harry and Sirius walked in with only a single nod towards one of the guards.

Thankfully with their glamours on they did not stand out too much, even if they did get extra looks from all the people they passed. It was clear their clothes were of a higher quality and they carried themselves differently than others around them. It was apparently harder to blend in than Harry had thought. "So were to pup? Any specific destination?" Sirius asked while looking over to him and around the town.

"I figured we should get a room to stay at for a few nights, even if we actually stay in the manor trunk. I was also thinking that it would look weird if we were travelling around without us getting a pair of horses and their travel tack." he said as they looked around for the stables of this town. It was not hard to find as it seemed to be just inside the gate and down a side street. It made sense that it was near the gates, as it would reduce the amount of transit time through the small town for horses.

Realistically it was more fair to call the place a small city for this world, as it was the second largest population center in the North, being just over seventy-five thousand people. The roads were mostly hard packed dirt and gravel when branching off the main stone roadway that went through the center of the town towards Winterfell. The stables they found was not too large with just a few dozen stalls.

Before they walked in, Harry called Sirius to halt and moved them into a alleyway that had definitely seen better days, as it had tons of debris and garbage. Placing a notice-me-not on them both, Harry started to explain to Sirius what the issue was. "We have to change our currently into the local denominations." he said while sticking his hand into his pouch and thinking of his coin purse and removing it.

Waving his wand he transfigured some of the garbage surrounding them into a small table where he then dumped out a nice mound of Galleons, enough to have broken the table if it had not been reinforced by his magic. Sirius was watching him as he waved his wand over the coins removing the protections they had on them, put there by the Goblins. It was against the law in Wizarding Britain to damage the currency, and there were charms on them to prevent it and alert the Goblins of anyone doing so. Thankfully they did not need to worry about that here.

With the protections removed, all Harry had to do now was transfigured them into the Dragons, the gold coin used by the locals. It only took a few seconds for there to be nearly 5000 thousand golden Dragons on the table in front of them and because he had used his own gold and was not changing, or creating new material, the transfiguration would be permanent. Each Galleon was about two times the size of the a Dragon which meant they were going to be flush for awhile.

From what he could understand from the hunter's memories, the amount he had made was far more than they need for now, as bread goes for about a copper penny for a large loaf. With there being around 10-12 thousands Pennies to a Dragon, depending on exchange rates, that meant Harry would need to get some Sickles out and change them into stags to be able to reasonably do business with any of the smallfolk. Repeating the process as he explained the exchange rates and buying power of their currency to Sirius and got himself a whistle of appreciation, as the value of the gold they were carrying had increased with them going through the reality portal.

For a good example, a good horse in non war times here in The North would go for about a half dragon, or 110 stags. A Galleon was just over two Dragons worth of gold, meaning a single Galleon could buy four good horses at normal times. A Galleon on Earth was worth about 5 Pounds and you would be lucky to buy a horse going to the glue factory for under 400 Pounds. Meaning a horse on Earth would cost anywhere from eighty to millions of galleons. Quite the shocking difference in buying power here in Westeros.

While Sirius liked to play the joker, he was clearly smart with all the pranks he got up to over his years with his parents, and by the look on Sirius's face he understood that they were now both filthy rich, even more so than before. Harry had not asked too much about what Sirius had prepared before them leaving, but he imagined the man had taken most of the Black fortune with him in his own trunk. From Tom's memories he knew that Black family was wealthy, but not by how much. Deciding it didn't really matter, Harry canceled the charm hiding them and the transfiguration on table he had made. Either way he handed over some of the coins to Sirius for spending money.

Leaving the alley way they approached the stables and entered the barn area looking for the proprietor of this 'lovely' operation. It didn't take for the man to find them. "What can I do fer you strangers?" the older man who owned the place asked them.

"Well we were looking for two horses with full travel tack that will last us quite a while." Harry responded quickly while turning on his charm to smooth things along.

"Do you have any preferences?" the man asked as he indicated them to follow him deeper into the stables.

"No, I believe it would be best if we left it up to you to choose." Harry said while looking over the animals on display. All of them look healthy and in good shape, so he was not too worried. From what he had learned from the Hunter, the people of The North were extremely honest in most cases, and cheating someone was frowned down upon by almost everyone here. "Though if they were a bit more docile, I don't imagine that we would at object to that at all." he said smiling a bit with humour in his voice, as he had borrowed some of the knowledge of horse riding from the Hunter, but was fairly certain Sirius had never rode one in his life.

"Well then I got the perfect pair in mind. They are actually twins and would do well to go to the same home together." the Stabler said as he took them to a larger pen where two sturdy but beautiful horses were. "Here they be. There be as gentle as my momma, and are lovely creatures. But that will come at a cost." he said looking both Harry and Sirius up and down. Whatever he saw must have satisfied him as he looked happy.

"How much do you want for the pair?" Sirius asked, finally speaking since they had entered. He seemed to be studying the horses fairly closely.

"For the pair of them..." the Stabler started before pausing to thinking while tapping his lip. "I could do 300 stags." he said looking to them with an honest expression. From what Harry knew that was a fairly decent price, if a little high, but they were purchasing slightly better than average horses.

"That sounds fair to me." Harry said not bothering to haggle at all. It seemed that it was not as common of a practice here in The North, as it was in the rest of the Six Kingdoms. "How about the tack?" he asked.

"Well if you want some good sturdy tack, I can do it for another 10 Stags per horse." the man answered as they moved back to the front of the stable were there were some other rooms. "But if you want something a bit nicer, I have stuff that ranges all the way up to nearly a 100 stags per horse." the man said putting on his primitive sales pitch.

Looking over the various tacks available Harry and Sirius picked out the ones they wanted, at 65 Stags and 80 Stags respectively. The stabler seemed ecstatic about the sale and asked them when they needed the horses ready by. Harry asked him if it would be alright to have to stabled here till they needed to leave in a few days, which the man answered in the affirmative with a jubilant attitude.

Once they were done in the stables, they decided to head back to the main road to find a nice Inn to get a room at, because it was starting to get dark after all their travels. Unfortunately there were no signs or anything that said inn, till they got closer to Winterfell. Most signs they saw were only symbols of what was sold there and few had any actual words on them. This said quite a bit about the average level of education of the smallfolk in and around the area.

They walked into the inn, and were presented with a lively atmosphere, where drinks were flowing and there were many 'barmaids' flirting and hanging off some of the patrons. The noise quieted a bit as some looked at them as they entered, but quickly recovered again. They walked over to the bar where they asked about rooms for the night. It was only a single Stag a night for room they could share. Meals were 2 Pennies each, which they got and had sent to their rooms to keep up appearances. In their room they found themselves sitting on their beds decompressing from the days adventure.

"So pup, anymore plans on what we will be doing racking around in that big brain of yours." Sirius asked, while looking to him. It seemed apparent to Harry that Sirius was going to follow his lead no matter what he decided.

"Well I am thinking we need to keep our magic hidden for now until we gain the lay of the land, however I would like to eventually find a place, or make one where we won't need to hide all the time." he said thinking about the question. "I would not mind learning about the magics of this world, and its history. For example the seasons here can last over a decade at the extreme. How weird is that?" he finished.

"I have actually heard about something like that from my childhood." Sirius said while looking thoughtful. "There was Mediterranean Wizards who had used some magic to extend their summers, but there was a backlash that cause an equally long winter when the time came." Sirius said after remembering the story. "It happened nearly a thousand years before we were born, but the story always stuck with me as the folly of Wizards, as it resulted in a giant desert being made."

That actually sounded a bit like was going on here, and it would make quite a bit of sense if magic was involved with the seasons, as everything he knew about science would not cause so irregular seasons without huge weather systems on the planet. Maybe there would be a way to fix it with magic, or at least dampen the effects where they eventually set themselves up at. It was another reason for Harry to continue studying magic from his LIS and what he could find here on this world.

Unfortunately his knowledge was lacking as even though the Hunter they had targeted had the ability to read, a rarity among the smallfolk, he was still fairly uneducated and had little knowledge of anything beyond the basics of Westeros and that of The North. Calling Dobby to him he started to explain where they were and when he finished he gave him some directions.

"Dobby I would like you to have a nice stable built in the villa for our horses, they will most likely be spending most of their time there as we will mostly be using our brooms. So make sure they have ample access to the green space to run around when they need to stretch their legs. Will you be able to do that?" he asked the excited elf.

"That will not bes a problem Master Harry Potter Sir." Dobby said excited about their new circumstance. Though Harry imagined he mourned the loss of new movies, but there had to be tons more that Elf had not watched yet still in storage. Thankfully they had a nice warded area of the manor trunk that contained electronics protected by anti-magic arrays.

With that handled he looked back to Sirius who was still looking at him to give more to his answer. "Well I think we should just start exploring this land till we get tired of it and find where we want to live." Harry finished as he looked out their open window that only had wooden shutters to close it. Apparently glass was fairly rare and expensive here, potentially a source of income for them in the future if they desired so.

"I think that's a good plan Pup. No real responsibilities, and I don't know about you, but both of us could use a real vacation and I imagine you will use the time to study." his Godfather said ribbing him a bit about his newfound studious attitude. Though in all honestly Sirius has lost a bit of his pranking flair when he had learnt the truth about some of the people he had looked up to in his life. Not to say he lost in entirely, but just the level of commitment he put into the 'art' had reduced drastically.

"I agree, I don't really want to have people relying on me right as we landed here. I am tired of everyone expecting miracles from me and for me to fix all their issues." he said heatedly, thinking to all the sheeple of Magical Britain. "I also never really got to see anywhere outside of Britain back on our Earth and would not mind experiencing some new places and people. Weirdly the people here almost seem like primitive Scottish men." Harry said making his thought known before continuing.

"And recently there finally was peace between the Iron Throne and Dorne which will mean that travelling will be easier than ever. That combined with not having to worry about idiots riding dragons, I think we could make a time of it. It would also allow us to sample each region to find which suited us best." he said confidently as his own excitement over the prospect grew.

"I think is a good of plan as any." Sirius said as a knock on their door announced the arrival of their meal. They ate the food quickly, noting it distinct lack of spices, though it still tasted good as it was hard to fuck up slow cooked stew. Putting his trunk on the ground Harry enlarged in and informed Sirius he was going to go and read for a bit about Earth's history in and around this time period.

"Well I noticed many nice ladies downstairs who seemed to be more than willing to go for a short tumble in the hay." Sirius said to Harry's exasperation as he was about to go into his manor trunk. "I will see you tomorrow and we can prepare for our trip." he finished.

* * *

After his nights of reading and short hours rest, Harry realized a few things about this era and its people. One being that religion played a key role in the life of many of the people, from lords to the smallfolk. While up here in The North they worshiped the Old Gods who seemed to be fairly benign and open to many things, the more restrictive Seven of the south were not. In fact the faith of the south seemed to be even more restrictive than some of those on Earth at similar times.

Also magic was somewhat accepted by the people of the North and the First Men, but those of the Faith and Andals frowned upon it and had every little experience with it in their histories other than warring against people using it. Such as the First Men and Children of the Forest. What this meant for them was that, they would needed to be extra careful in the south, and more than likely removed there as options to settle down at.

Another thing he learnt was that while lords swore fealty to the crown, they would often more than not, follow whatever benefited themselves the most, and their more immediate lord than that of a king. That meant that the lords of The North would answer Lord Stark's call over that of the King, which was only reinforced by the memories he had form the Hunter.

The tax system however was far more structured here than what he would have expected for such a primitive government system. There seemed to be a basic combined tax on sales and profits on each of the various industries, but it was not crippling being less than half of profits in all cases. Each lord paid a good portion of tax he collects to his liege based on how much his peasants make, as well as what tax duties he holds.

Then some was sent to Iron Throne after the Lord Paramount's took their own share. What this meant was that any profit the lord made by himself was basically tax free to some extent and opened up lords to purchasing entire tax industries for lump sums from the Iron Throne, meaning they gained the right to tax said industry in a certain region. This encouraged Lords to invest in their own lands and industries, and by doing so increased how much they collected from their subjects, meaning more tax for their Liege.

It was complicated and rife for exploitation, but also was more than the basic production tax most feudal societies of Earth used. This did mean that eventually they would have to start paying taxes wherever they settle to account for some of their wealth. After Sirius returned in the morning, having spent the night in bed with a 'nice lady' he had met the night prior they decided to split up and explore Winter town.

Harry's first trip was to a bookstore, that also sold maps and other information. Apparently while paper was known to the store owner, it was only rarely obtained from Essos. The man said the best known use of it was by the Iron Bank for account keeping, but it was a closely guarded secret and expensive, meaning parchment still saw frequent use. Harry was able to buy about three dozen books, shocking the merchant, as books were actually expensive here costing him a whopping three dragons. With a few maps of The North, Westeros, and some writing supplies, Harry left the store with the goods in his pouch, after a quick confundus.

Harry met of with Sirius and found out he had explored around the pubs a bit and had found out about the recent marriage between one of the princes of the realm and a princess of Dorne. While not as important to The North, they were looking forward to longer peace, as apparently there had been war time taxes imposed by the Iron Throne. Without those taxes more money would stay here in The North, and form what Sirius could learn many in the North had fairly negative opinions of 'southerners'. Also that the year was 165ac, or after conquest.

They decided that they had learnt enough here in Winter town, and did not feel like going to visit any lords yet, so they were not going to go to Winterfell. Fetching their horses from the stable, Harry was shocked to learn that Sirius knew how to ride a horse. "I did get a Lords education Harry." Sirius said to him with a smirk as if he had pranked him when he had asked the man about it. Thankfully all Harry had to do to learn was take it from a man's mind rather than weekly visits to a horse ranch while growing up.

The Maps Harry had gotten had given him the scale of the land here. Westeros itself was massive, nearly the same size as Britain and Europe put together and The North, was the biggest province of them all. They rode from Winter town till they were about ten miles away and then had Dobby store their horses in his trunk while both of them mounted their brooms once again. It was going to take them almost an entire day of fast flying to make the 500 mile trip to Moat Cailin. Thankfully that was a distance still easily made in a single day on their brooms.

The one thing that really sucked about this age, was one of the things their magic seemed especially proficient at performing, and that was fast travel. If one thought about it, it made some sense. The landscape was fairly snow covered and filled with mountains and forests. As they moved southward the weather slowly started to get warmer, but not by much, and even then only Sirius really noticed, or to say Harry noticed a decrease in the complaints from the other man.

Regardless of all the land they were covering they had seen little to no major settlements on their journey so far from Winter town, Harry was happy though. He was finally doing something just for himself, and doing what he wanted, and that was to learn and see the world. Moat Cailin was an amazing site, and would have been an even more amazing fortress if it was not so run down and nearly all destroyed by time. Only a few towers still stood and most of the walls all had crumbled down.

Even though it was in such a state, it still was a formidable defense as a small army here could stop a far larger one coming from the South. However if the place was rebuilt, it would only take a few hundred in this fortress to hold off thousands below the neck. Deciding to skip over the Marchmen as they were a solitary type from what Harry could learn, and did not look to kindly on visitors.

After a good night sleep they continued on their trip at a leisurely pace as they were in no rush. Another interesting fact they had observed so far was the amount of ambient magic in the environment was decreasing the further they got to the south. And as they approached the Green Fork River, the magic level had dropped nearly by half. This meant it was no longer so dense were it was almost physical, though the level was still far higher than even the magical places on Earth.

He could only really make a single guess to the reason, and that was because the Faith had made efforts to remove as many of the Weirwood tree below the Neck. There was only the grove left of Isle of Faces that sported any significant number of the trees. Meaning there was less magic in this part of Westeros, another reason for them not to choose it as their final place to settle down at.

From what they could see from the air, The Riverlands really lived up to its name, as there were hundreds of smaller rivers feeding into the massive three Forks. Harry could see very few riverboats, which made him shocked, as this region could truly prosper by utilizing those rivers for transportation and trade to a larger extent. There next destination was Riverrun which was one of the major population centers in this area. Only the lucky were able to live behind the mighty walls of castles and fortresses here in Riverlands, as they were frequently caught up in wars meaning the lesser structures were often destroyed.

Following their normal routine, just with a bit of a difference, they debroomed and got on their horses and made their way to Riverrun enjoying the significant improvement in weather. It was almost like they were in lower England with the temperate weather and what he expected to be some serious amounts of rain throughout the year.

Riverrun was fairly impressive, were Winterfell was far larger, Riverrun seemed to have a lot of space devoted to additional homes. It seemed like they expected to last out long sieges behind their walls and had all they needed to do so inside with them. Winterfell on the other hand was designed to hold a large population and army while waiting for reinforcements that while slow in coming but would not take them more than a few months.

While they were traveling, Harry at the behest of Dobby's request for additional work for the elves, had them start to do a bit of fishing hidden by magic. There were tons of rivers and who knows what types of fish in them for the Elves to go crazy with. He also had him preserve it with charms, at it may be worth having later for trade or just fresh fish in the middle of the desert to fuck with someone's mind. Hey he still had a bit of his fathers and godfathers pranking gene.

Well it only took Harry and Sirius a few hours to tell that the people here in the Riverlands were full of themselves. Even the house words of House Tully showed that to some extent, and definitely their priorities. Family, Duty, Honor. That would basically imply that Sirius should have went along with his families support of Voldemort because that was what was most important. And apparently from their accents, the people here thought Harry and Sirius were form The North, and even looked down on them a bit for that, even though they were spending good money.

Also they had been approached TWICE since entering the town by a religious nun or as they are called here Septas about joining them for the daily prayer. It was almost as bad as those Jehovah's Witnesses that Hermione had once told him about, and even his Uncle had bad mouthed. If there was a group that both the Dursleys and Hermione disliked, he was definitely going to be staying away from them.

When leaving Riverrun they reversed course a bit and made their way to the Isle of Faces to have his Elves acquire more Weirwood saplings, as he could only get so many on his trip across The North. While the Elves were gathering the saplings and doing some more fishing, Harry and Sirius retired to Harry's trunk where Harry decided to try out a new recipe that he had learnt recently and make them both lunch. He had continued to cook sometimes when he got the time as he enjoyed the process, similarly to potion making which he had developed a love for when he had finally learnt the art rather than the terrible instructions he got from Snape.

Sometimes he regrets not doing something more than stealing Snape's potions ingredients, notes, and tools when he had left. On the other hand, he knew from Sirius that Snape had been feeding information to the Order about Voldemort acting as a double agent. Once lunch was finished, Dobby had reported that some of the Elves had encountered a few monk like people, though they were not seen. He had the saplings collected planted in his trunk to start to offset the amount of magic that needed to be funneled into them. Which was increasing as more plants and animals were growing and being born in the trunk farms.

Not really wanting to intrude on someone's holy ground they quickly got back on their brooms to continue their journey across the lands rather than seek the monks out. Kings Landing was not too far away from where they were now so they decided to head there next. It did not hurt that it was one of the biggest cities in all of Westeros, sporting a population over a million.

Kings Landing turned out to be incredibly shitty, figuratively and literally speaking. They had to pay a bribe just to enter the city, and from what Harry had viewed in the guards minds, the entire City's watch, The Gold Cloaks, was corrupt to some degree. The smell and shit came from the fact that there was no real sewage system and what little there was, ran directly into the bay that the city surrounded. This place was prone to diseases and Harry could just imagine a plague was just around the corner.

On top of that, what Harry had been learning about the Targaryen family was a bit disturbing and too close to home with all of them being incest born. Harry was hoping to have escaped that aspect of the Wizarding World. Thankfully there were tons of noble houses here in Westeros and the problem of them being inbred was almost entirely removed. However here was a family purposely marrying their brothers and sisters to each other.

They had only spent two weeks in the city, and that was in part because Harry was purchasing many books, maps, and supplies they may need on their trip. No matter what he thought of the city, it did have access to most goods they might have wanted, being the capital. The second goal Harry had was to setup a warehouse here with someone to manage it, as there was a good chance having one on some of the major ports around Westeros would be a boon in the future.

It was not hard to find the right official to purchase land off of here in the city, all they needed to do was start asking around. Harry and Sirius had made sure their glamours of their clothes were showing them to be fairly high quality, as they wanted to take advantage of the benefits of being thought of as lords came with. The man they were directed to was the epitome of a corrupt official in this city.

There were a few warehouses near, or on the dock that were for sale. Some were held by the city and others by private sellers. With a bit of a dive into the man's head, Harry was able to find out that he took a cut from any sale done here, and under reported to the government and sellers. Though the man was all too happy to show them around the harbor to the various warehouses, even if he was sweating buckets dragging his weight around the city doing so.

The first few they were shown were in terrible condition and not at all what Harry was looking for. Finally they found a decent location that was large and on the waterfront, however the building itself was in dire shape and need of repairs, but still intact. This did not deter them however as some liberally cast repairo charms and some charms to hide their work and they could have a mighty warehouse on the cheap.

The purchasing of land was odd here as all they needed was to exchange money and get their deed which was all they had as proof of ownership. The land official did take down their names for his book, so there may be a way to prove their ownership if the deed was lost. The very first thing they did when they got inside was cut open the floor to place a wardstone down.

There was zero chance they would leave any property in a building in this city without proper protections. Harry had been reading up on various magics throughout their journey and a few from the Celts had caught his eye, especially their area wards. In this case it was their anti-theft wards that would prevent all but the most thoroughly motivated individuals from trying to steal from the warehouse. From Sirius's suggestion they added some wards that would prevent people from thinking to closely about the building and what goes on inside.

This could prevent the corrupt guards from coming around looking for a handout, as the aversion and redirection wards would take care of those types of individuals. However they were made in such a way that those who had legitimate business with the warehouse would actually be drawn to it instead, finding it easily. They put up the standard protections most magical buildings got, that being from the elements, such as fire, and minor physical damage. It also came with a ward that would slowly repair the building of any damage preventing natural wear and tear.

The whole building only cost them 10 dragons, and it was only that expensive because it was directly on the Harbor front, if slightly to the side. Though Harry did know that about three of those Dragons were going directly into the man pocket, hence the huge smile he had at the completion of the sale. The only real issue they had was to find an honest and qualified person to run the warehouse while they were not present, which was going to be most time consuming process of all.

Thankfully it only took them a few days searching at some of the various pubs, inns, and for Sirius, at few of the whore houses, to find a gentlemen that fit their bill. They entered the Lonely Pig which was actually a decently nice place for the region of the city it was in. It was cleanish, and there was even someone making some noise with an instrument in the corner. Walking up to the barkeep they asked about Thomas the man they had learnt about from their search.

The man they were looking for was in his early thirties and was sitting at a table slowly nursing a drink that looked almost empty. Sirius put and arm on Harry shoulders to stop him as he was going to walk up to the man, and ordered a drink for them all three first, handing the barman a Stag. With drinks in hand they went and sat down at the mans table. Where Harry open up the discussion as the man was a bit startled at being intruded upon.

"Hello you are Thomas? The former warehouse manager?" Harry asked as they put the third pint of 'ale' down in front of the man.

"That would be me. Who is asking?" Thomas said happily as he grabbed the new drink and took a good swig. While he was doing that Harry did his usual, and perused the mans forethoughts to get a grasp on what type of person he was. Apparently they had found the right man as he was a family man who was one of the few honest people in the city. He just wanted a steady job that would allow for him to ensure his children had food on the table and his family won't have to move out of their home because he lost his past job to a fire.

It was honestly refreshing to see those thoughts as it reminded Harry that while the era may change, humans were very much the same, and even had some of the same problems.

"A prospective employer. We been looking around for a experienced warehouse man to run our warehouse for us that we recently purchased and refurbished." Harry said while Sirius was looking around the pub leaving the conversation to him. "This here is my colleague Sirius Black and I am Harry Potter." he said while holding his hand out to shake the mans, and elbowing Sirius to do the same.

"It is nice to meet you." Thomas said excitedly clearly happy about the possibility of a new job. "What does the job entail exactly?" he asked after shaking their hands.

"You will need to manage the warehouses, its finances and, any additional clients you may rent some of the open space to, to supplement the warehouse income." Harry said explaining the job they had. Basically the man would be in charge of receiving and keeping any packages, goods, or people they sent his way. While also renting out the spare space to other clients so the warehouse could cover its own costs.

"What type of goods will the warehouse store and transit?" Thomas asked with his interest showing on his face. Clearly he was not going to accept the job before knowing what merchandise they would be dealing in, highlighting his good character, as even in his situation he doesn't jump straight in.

"We will be travelling around Westeros and some of Essos and will most likely purchase goods and send them here for later use. Other than that in the future if we open up some businesses this may be a transit point or destination for those goods." Harry answered honestly. "Other than that, you will have to decide on other clients and what they wish to store in the warehouse as there will be ample space available and it may be many months before you receive anything from us." Harry finished as the man started to ponder the offer.

"Well I am not in any situation to say no to such a generous offer. What is it I have to do to accept?" Thomas asked.

Harry pulled out a contract that he had prepared beforehand that was imbued with magic to prevent the parties from breaking it. It was just a bit more insurance for Harry and Sirius when leaving this man here with potentially expensive goods. It also laid out what his salary and cut of yearly profits made from the warehouse, which was 10%. This way he would be motivated to fill the additional space in the warehouse.

Thomas read through the contract slowly sussing out it's fine details. Apparently it was fairly unknown for employers to use contracts like these here in Westeros. As Thomas read more his expression improved, as the wages they were offering were quite generous and the contract also protected his job, and position in case something out of his control happens.

"Gentlemen I would be most happy to accept this position!" Thomas said getting up and doing a short bow. "When can I start?"

"As soon as you sign the parchment, and then we can celebrate!" Sirius exclaimed clearly happy that their hunt was over finally, as was Harry. With that said, Harry took out a self inking fountain pen and passed it over the man who inspected the curiosity before singing the document and looking back to the pen.

"Is this one of the goods your may be selling?" Tomas asked looking at the pen. "Because I know a ton of people who would sell their first born to get something like this. It is so easy to use and doesn't smudge or make as many extra marks as quills do!" he said excited about the fountain pen and mentioning something Harry had not even considered as a possible source of revenue.

"Well it is a possibility, but we would have to look into that into the future after our travels." Harry said as Sirius waved down one of the barmaids to come over and ordered when she arrived.

"Can we get a round of your best here for us and keep them coming." Sirius said before pulling out a golden Dragon. "And the rounds are on me for the night for everyone till that runs out, we are celebrating." he said handing over the Dragon, and a silver stag to the barmaid. "And that one there is for you to make sure our drinks don't ever empty." he finished tapping the silver coin. The dragon was probably more than could be drank by the patrons in a night, but it was not like they were hurting for coin.

Thomas was a bit surprised by Sirius's actions, but didn't protest. Harry imagined he would be able to make the excuse to his wife when he ended up walking in late at night drunk that it was because he was celebrating his new job with his employers. Funnily enough this was one of the first nights were Harry got a bit inebriated as his tolerance for booze becoming readily apparent over the night, and spawned a series of drinking competitions which Harry handedly won.

Apparently another unforeseen side effect of his body improvement ritual was to increase his alcohol tolerance, not that Harry had a lot of experience with it before anyways. Though it did mean that he was clear headed enough to get both Thomas and Sirius back to their respective abodes. Even if he had Dobby pop Sirius into his trunk to speed up the process.

Once the next day dawned they showed Thomas the warehouse, which was huge and in such great condition after their repairos that the man was clearly shocked. Apparently it was going to be perfect for doing ample business and the excitement almost seemed to roll off of Thomas as he went around inspecting everything. Harry and Sirius had Elves build a nice office in one of the corners for Thomas to manage the place from. There was also a safe that was protected with magic that Harry had put a thousand dragons and some smaller currency in for whatever may be needed or purchased.

With the warehouse and Thomas set up, they decided that it was time to leave this shit hole as neither wanted to spend anymore time there, as even with Bubble Head charms it did not stop them from having to walk in human shit that was thrown from windows to the street by many of the residents of the city.

After finishing up in King's Landing they decided to head out to the Westerlands on their brooms to check out the region, as it was seen as one of the wealthiest in Westeros. As they were about to leave before getting their horses from the stable, they were accosted by three ragged looking men. Harry almost burst out laughing when he realized what was going on here.

"Give us your all your stuff, and you just might leave this here ally with your lives." the thief in the lead demanded of them.

"I am not sure if you really want to be doing this." Sirius said with humor in his voice that Harry was feeling. However regardless of how funny he found the situation he didn't want to have to waste time. Looking around to make sure they weren't being watched, using a bit of his passive magic to help with that, he quickly fired off three wandless cutting charms taking the men all across there necks sending their heads tumbling. "Merlin's balls Harry!" Sirius exclaimed at his quick and lethal action.

"Sirius, we have to remember we are not in the same world we once were. These men were planning to kill us regardless of what we chose to do. I just most likely saved some future poor soul from find their end at the point of their knives." Harry said not really feeling anything negative about having taken three lives so quickly. It was most likely part of the influence of Tom's memories on him. Even though they don't have emotions attached to them, watching thousands of people being killed did remove much of his squeamishness to the deed.

Deciding that they would be best taking off so as not to get caught, they quickly left the city on their horses and took to the air when they found an area to hide their actions. Harry was not too bothered with having to kill someone and rightly expected to have to do so again during their journey, with that in mind he took a scabbard and the sword of Gryffindor out of his pouch and strapped it to his side. Even though he had little skills with a sword, besides those taken from the Hunter, it would still act as a status symbol, and with his physical advantages it would take a truly skilled individual to give him a run for his money. Hopefully its presence would deter further attempts by people to rob them.

During the trip they only traveled for two hours each day, before settling down in the trunk to relax, as they were in no rush, and Harry was getting absorbed into reading some of the magic from books in his LIS, and those he picked up on their journey. He was concentrating on some of the Druidic magic related to the land, as it may come in handy in the future. Apparently they were mostly about doing widespread spells, and performed little small scale magic like wand-wizards of Earth do today. Which was something modern wizards were not great at, meaning Harry was learning tons of ways to use magic on a grander scale.

Sirius on the other hand had no interesting in studying and instead joined Dobby and some of the other Elves in watching movies. It was a past time that Sirius was growing nearly as fond of as Dobby was, the two cinephiles. It also gave Harry time to spend with Hedwig and prepare his ritual he planned for her when they finally settled down. He wanted to insure that she would be able to live nearly as long as himself as he didn't want to lose his first true friend.

It was fairly obvious when they had entered the Westerlands as the Riverlands quickly transitioned into a more mountainous region. It was also clear that this area was fairly prosperous as there were many decent sized and well built structures around. Following their usual routine they found a secluded spot to land near Lannisport and got onto their horses to ride into the city. At least here unlike with King's Landing they were not extorted for a bribe to enter the city.

There was a ton of activity because as they learnt from a fellow traveler on the road, there was a marble boom going on with the discovery of a large new marble quarry just a dozen or so miles from Lannisport. This also meant that there were ships constantly coming from Essos to trade the marble to the affluent cities found there. Apparently they were richer than almost all Westeros' cities, and that could probably link back to the lack of financial services and laws in Westeros. As every 'Free City' in Essos had its own bank, the most well known of being that of The Iron Bank of Braavos.

Seeing it was a fairly active port, they decided to do the same as they had done in King's Landing and setup up another warehouse. It was far easier this time around as they were more experienced in finding someone to fill the role they needed. During that time Harry had decided that with the price of marble being so low at the moment, they should stock up on some for future use. One of the major reason marble was expensive was due to transportation costs, and with magic those were almost entirely removed.

Apparently the marble was sold at a small auction held everyday where the various merchants and traders came to bid of the day's haul. Harry had Sirius attend the auctions and have a bit of fun for a few weeks while he personally delved into some mundane study of outdated tech that may be good for them to introduce when they settle down to increase the standard of living of anyone living in their area.

Sirius had nearly filled their new warehouse and their new manager, Kevin, was running ragged having it stored away, which brought a small smile to Harry face at the irony of the fact he had the Elves store it in his trunks and cast a small confundus on their new manager, to make him think it had been shipped out.

During their time in Lannisport Harry had come to one real conclusion, and that was he hated privy pots with a passion. After what he had seen King's Landing and now his extended stay here, where ever the decided to settle down was going to have proper plumbing. So weirdly he found himself reading about sewers of all things, and how a toilet actually worked.

Harry had also practiced his mineral magic and found out that the Rock was basic a huge gold mine, and was quite full still. There would be gold in those halls for many generations to come. Especially if they managed how much they spent. Though the Lannisters did not have the best of reputations, as some houses saw them as weak, but that didn't really matter to Harry or Sirius as they were leaving again for Oldtown.

Harry's main target was to get access to the Maesters library, and get all the knowledge he will need going forward. They decided this time to stop at a few of the small towns they came across to get a feel for the lives of the smallfolk outside larger population centers, and while their lives were not terrible, they were not much better than subsistence farmers of Earth's medieval period.

That made both of them want to ensure that they made ample opportunities for anyone living on their land in the future, even if it was only a few servants or something. They had the gold to spare, but more importantly the magic and knowledge. There was tons of easy industries that Earth had that were missing here that they could introduce. That got Harry thinking about future plans and what they could do.

Oldtown was actually a nice place with Gardens and other examples of wealth spread throughout the region. Westerlands and The Reach were extreme examples of the difference in the wealth of the people when compared to The North. However The North seemed to have far more welcoming people, and the overall atmosphere was far easier to be surrounded by than that of these southern provinces which seemed to value wealth over a lot of other concerns.

They spent their first week there just as they had in their last two spots, setting up a warehouse, and buying local goods. It only cost them a thousand Dragons and they had literally tons of grains, produce, and hundreds of barrels of wine flowing into their warehouse. Apparently it was not to uncommon for people to make large food orders there in Oldtown to be shipped somewhere, even as far as Slaver's Bay. This was pretty much their plan at most of the locations they went to if it was main harbor and trade hub.

At first Harry wanted to get permission to enter the Library in the Maester's tower, but quickly learned that only Maesters were allowed inside without special permission from the Grand Maester. The more he learnt, the more it seemed like this group was more about hoarding knowledge and only giving the bare basics to those they teach, which only ever was Lords and their children.

So it was with that in mind that he donned his Invisibility Cloak, which now seemed to have slightly changed its ability since he bonded with the Hollows. He could now wear it like a normal cloak and will its ability on and off, rendering him invisible regardless of whether it was fully covering him or not. That being said it did require him to actually wear it and it could only make someone else invisible if he was embracing them closely, making attempts at moving nearly impossible

With his cloak doned it was easy to walk into the Library past the few acolites who were watching the entryway, and wait for night for it to clear out. Hopefully Sirius was having fun, and was most likely taking advantage of the various protection charms a wizard could use to prevent getting any venereal diseases as Harry told him he would be all night. Harry didn't hold Sirius's whoring against him, as he imagined the man was simply trying to catch up on all the possible interactions he missed while in prison. Also it seemed to be something that made him happy, and that brought a smile to Harry's own face.

Over their journey Harry's and Sirius' relationship had gotten closer as they spent more time together. It was the first time in his life that he had someone who actually looked out for him, and even at times put his own needs before theirs. Harry had even told Sirius about the Philosophers Stone, and the man had already started taking some elixir of life. Harry was holding off for now, as he wanted to age to about the appearance of a 30 years old before he decided to take it. Even that may take a few decades to achieve with how powerful of a wizard he was and the rituals he had done to slow his ageing.

They decided not to bother worrying about anyone noticing their lack of aging and would deal with it in the future. With night around Harry set up some aversion wards to prevent someone from interrupting him and got to work putting every book into his LIS. From there he had the LIS make a permanent copy which he put back. Unfortunately the LIS wasn't quite powerful yet to do so without assistance, so Harry ended up having to spend a good chunk of the night channeling his own magic into the stone and replacing the thousands of books in the Library.

He was taking the originals for mostly the fact he preferred to have the original, and didn't really think these guys would notice. While searching the library Harry noticed a bit of magic coming from behind a bookshelf. Looking around he was able to find the cleverly hidden switch in the corner of a shelf that activated the secret doorway. Inside he found another small library and a few shelves with some artifacts and scrolls on them.

Deciding to spend a bit extra time and see what was so important for them to hide away in their own private library, Harry grabbed one of the journals and started to read. Harry's ability to read was astounding and only took him ten minutes to finish the few hundred page book. What it contained actually shocked Harry and made his anger rise, which caused some of the objects in the room to start shaking a bit. Getting himself under control he swept the room clean, taking all the books and artifacts and leaving nothing behind.

Apparently the Maesters had been spending the better part of a thousand years in their attempt at hoarding knowledge and stamping out any sources or information on magic. They went so far as to have their Maesters assigned to noble houses slowly clean their libraries of books on magic, or any knowledge they deemed too 'sensitive'. In this vein they had also been acting as spies for some of the Reach lords passing on secret information for centuries.

One of their successful and ambitious plans was the slow poisoning of the dragons held by the Targaryens. Their reasons were that they did not want them to be used on the smallfolk any longer in the future, but it also was inline with their goal of the removal of magic from Westeros. They also apparently had helped the Faith hunt down anyone even suspected of using magic to be exterminated, while keeping their own hands clean.

It was sicking and was the reason Harry took all the magical items they had in the room. There probably was more somewhere else but he did not want these fools having the ones here anymore. Unfortunately that will mean they will know someone broke in, but he didn't care. He left the Library and made his way to the inn he and Sirius were staying at just as the sun was rising.

Waking up Sirius who was still recovering from his escapades the night before, they quickly left before the theft became apparent and Harry's anger got the better of him and he did something he would regret. He hated people who hoarded basic knowledge and tried to determine what was best for others, it reminded him too much of Dumbles, and much of the Ministry. He and the Maesters were not going to get along in the future unless they really change their ways, which he doubted.

What amazed Harry was when they were leaving on their brooms he started reviewing the long list of how much food stuff they were able to get, which was a crap load. Apparently it had been a fairly long summer so far and the silos in The Reach were overflowing with grains and fruits. Which meant they had made a killing buying it on the cheap, as Harry knew from the Hunter's memories food could be so scarce at times many starved to death during winter.

From Old Town they flew over the mountains that separated The Reach and Dorne. Along the way Harry stopped often and used his magic to practice with his mineral location spell and various rituals to temporarily infuse the earth with extra life to encourage plant and animal growth. The ones he were trying were only temporary and would only last a few months at tops, and not be noticeable. On top of that they were in the middle of mountains where there was no people were.

As they made their way closer to Dorne the temperature started to start to raise quickly, from the temperate zone of The Reach to the heat of the desert. Harry mostly noticed by Sirius's increasing complaints about the heat, he was almost tempted to use some of his newfound knowledge to make him a temperature control trinket; but he decided not to as it was too good of a prank, even if it drove him nuts at times. Apparently having to reapply cooling charms and not realizing they were wearing off was a bit too much for Sirius.

Harry on the other hand felt just as comfortable as he did back on the mountain side in The North. There was not much to see in Dorne besides the incredibly intricate series of small canals that were used to bring water to the massive orchids that were present all along the rivers they were following. It seemed Dorne was known for its various fruits, mainly citrus, and their grapes used to make arguably the best wine in Westeros. Though some Arbourmen may argue that point.

Harry did have Sirius land so he could try out some water magic he had been looking at since they had come to Dorne. It seemed that he was able to use magic to find natural springs, or even create springs to large underground aquifers. So he got to work trying them out.

With a wave of his hand he started to channel magic into his spell. He no longer used words for any of his magic as he realized they were not necessary, and even limited him for more complex castings, like he was doing now. No wonder it seemed that most of the amazing things Wizards had done was in the past, it was because modern wizards had forgotten so much about using magic without their wands or structured spells. It was incredibly liberating when the ground he was casting at started to break apart and a massive geyser of water spurted forth.

It started to rain down all over both him and Sirius. Harry had honestly not expected this serious of a reaction as water started to pool quickly already forming a small pond. This caused them to get their stuff and with lots of ribbing from Sirius they were back on their brooms observing the new lake Harry had created.

"Harry I didn't know you were trying to make a lake." Sirius said poking fun at his mistake.

Apparently he had used a bit too much magic and made a massive spring that was pulling water from a nearly unlimited source some thousand meters below them. Thankfully they were in a fairly uninhabited area, mostly because of the lack of water, or well former lack. He imagine this place would eventually attract attention of local lords. If he was not wrong this land belonged to the Martells. Hey they could just consider this a late wedding gift for the royal pair.

"I may have used a bit too much magic, thankfully there was no one nearby and no permanent structures around." he said while looking back to the new body of water sheepishly.

Deciding that they had stayed long enough watching the still growing pool of water, as it was only a matter of time before it connected with the Greenblood and started to flow out into the ocean, or to more canals down river. Their arrival in Sunspear, the capital of the region, was relaxing as for once the people of the south did not put a bad taste in their mouths. In fact the people here seemed far more accepting of things different from them and seemed to be more full of life. They also were not obsessed with wealth like the last three places they had stopped at were.

One thing Harry's water magic had proved was that they could make whatever desert land they purchased into an oasis of life and water. Though there was still the other issue, being that most people in Dorne were following of the Faith of the Seven. That did not stop them from spending a few months in the city. Sirius certainly enjoyed himself and quickly had made a few friends in the nobility. Apparently it was not as uncommon here as elsewhere in Westeros for them to socialize with the more wealthy of smallfolk.

Sirius had even managed to hook up with the daughter a noble lord, and Harry had been afraid that there would be issues. When he had been introduced and brought it up with the lady in question after a few drink she had laughed at him, and said they were to stiff, like most Northerners. It still amused Harry that everyone south of the neck thought them to be from The North.

Sirius' adventure with the young lady had brought up the discussion of him using contraceptive charms to prevent any little wizards from popping out nine months after they left somewhere. It was then that Sirius told him that his stay in Azkaban had actually made him infertile and that he had named Harry as his heir, as soon as he had found out that little tidbit after escaping.

This made Harry feel sad and happy at the same time. Sad that Sirius wouldn't be able to have children of his own, and happy that Sirius wanted Harry to be his legacy. Another thing that Harry did while they were in Sunspear was get more knowledge about Essos, as Dorne had the most contact with southern Essos than the rest of Westeros. His interest in Valyria was also peaked as he heard more and more about some of the amazing magic they were supposedly capable of.

It did not surprise Harry in the least as any magical civilization that lasted thousands of years should have achieved some incredible things. There was also a bit more information on magic here in Dorne and Harry learnt as much about the various magical orders on Essos. Many did not interest him at all, like the warlocks of Qarth, however stories of the past water mages of the Rhoyne made him want to visit it sometime when he needs more magic to study.

Their stay in Dorne had been great for them and a learning experience on how to interact with nobles, even the more lax ones found here. The Water Gardens had also been amazing to see and enjoy. The fact that anyone could go in and use them said quite a bit about the Martell family and made Harry do something a bit rash. He had, while relaxing in the warm water, carved a few cooling runes under the water at a few various places. It would allow for a bit lower temperature water and a more refreshing dip in the middle of the desert.

* * *

After nearly three months they mounted their brooms once again and headed to Planky Town, the local harbor and trade hub of the region. It only took them two days to set up their warehouse as they had gotten a recommendation for a solid manager when they were in Sunspear. With their new warehouse and trade destination setup, they were on their way to Lys. They were not quite sure what they would find there as it was the first slave city they were visiting.

Lys was worse than Harry had expected with the slaves out numbering those free by three to one. At least most were happy and the bed slaves even more so as the goddess they followed was all about love. It did put a bit of an dampener of Sirius's whoring though as he only searched out free woman. However they decided to leave after they had set up their next warehouse and had their contract signed as slavery left a bad taste in Harry's mouth because of his childhood.

Deciding to head straight to Valyria so that they could get his mind of the slavery and engrossed in something interesting. There trip had been long enough that they had stopped off on a small island and were they stayed in his manor trunk. That was when Sirius asked a question he was not expecting.

"Harry are you ever going to talk to me about your childhood growing up with the Dursleys?" Sirius asked. Harry had told him some things, generalities about how they treated him, but he had not ever gone into any details, and if he was being honest with himself he had avoided some of the worst stuff when he had first told Sirius. Though he decided that now he knew that man well enough to let him in on his darkest time in his life.

What followed as an hours discussion with many tears, and a rampaging Sirius who swore worse than a sailor. Finally he had turned into Padfoot to calm down and snuggled with Harry, who later fell asleep with his godfather in his arms.

Waking up to a dog licking your face was not what he was expecting and had him launching Padfoot away with his magic automatically, though not overly violently. During their stop over Harry had spent some time playing with the Weirwood trees that were now planted and almost full height with the help from a few growth potions. Harry had managed to work a wardstone into the earth below a tree, which had the amazing effect of drawing the magic produced by the tree first before it was released into the environment.

This meant he could use a tree to power a wardstone much more easily than trying to use magical funnels arrays or putting them on leylines. Another option was using hundreds of Weirwood trees to feed a single super massive warded area, which opened up even more possibilities in the future. He had tried to have Dobby get an elf to bind with a tree, but apparently it was too raw of a source magic, and not nearly as pure as what Harry produced for them.

He had been hoping this could have been the solution to House Elves dependency and have them instead live of the magic of the trees, but apparently it made them sick, and made their magic malfunction. Too bad because Dobby was quickly becoming his close friend and he could just imagine the excitement of the little guy had he found an answer to their problem. Even if Dobby would have rejected it for himself.

Valyria was impossible to miss with the giant cloud of volcanic gasses covering the entire island and immediate surrounding waters. They could also make the outlines of a few of the volcanoes that were producing the toxic fumes. With a simple bubble head charm they were able to pass inside without any concerns.

The amount of destruction they saw was staggering, and what was left over told of how mighty the civilization that had been there had once been. However the land was also seeped in dark magic, which Harry was going to investigate. Just touching down almost made them feel as if they were being infected by the foul magic in the area. However their own personal auras were far too powerful for that to ever happen.

It was no wonder there had been a disaster and the fact that it was not going away did not surprise Harry either as the latent magic leftover was probably powering the volcanoes preventing them from going out. This left the land stagnant, with little plant growth meaning the various buildings and structures had not even been consumed back into nature.

However that did not mean the buildings were in good shape and it would most likely be a terrible idea for them to go adventuring around in them. They decided to fly and land outside the main city that had been split almost down the middle by a fissure that was now filled with water. When they had landed the bad feeling was only reinforced for Harry.

"Sirius, have you ever felt something like the magic here before?" he asked of the man standing beside him.

"Well I can just barely feel the black magic in the area, I don't believe I have your sensitivity." Sirius said while looking at all the destruction the doom had cause in the area. "But some of the artifacts the Black family had collect had similar feeling to them. What now pup? I don't fancy trying to search those building for whatever it is you are looking for." he finished not seeming to worried about the magic in the area.

Harry had already thought this through and was about to call to Dobby to unleash the house elves on the city. There was no one around so they didn't even need to hide their activities, or well that was what Harry thought before he and Sirius started to get swarmed by what he believe were Stonemen.

There was nearly two dozen of them, and rather than using his magic Harry drew the Sword of Gryffindor and started to dance between them. When Harry had saw the first Stoneman it was almost like the world has slowed down with his magic pumping through his system. He flowed between the Stoneman as they attempted to attack him and swung his sword elegantly lopping bodies in half and removing heads as he passed. Sirius meanwhile had responded quickly and started casting reductos from afar giving Harry additional cover.

It was over almost after it had just started, taking less than a minute to kill just over a dozen of the poor souls. The interesting thing was Harry did not detect too much additional magic in the bodies of the Stonemen meaning the disease could even be of natural causes because it did not feel like a curse.

Though now that he was paying attention Harry was shocked to find that almost everything in the city in front of them had magic in it. All the buildings and even the stone pieces that were littered on what was left of the roadways had magic in them. It seemed these people had used magic for almost everything, which was incredibly fascinating, and not something that was ever attempted on Earth, if one forgoes the legends of Atlantis.

Calling Dobby to him he started letting the little guy known what he wanted the Elves to do. "Dobby can you get the elves to scour this here island for anything valuable, especially writing or magical materials." he said when the House Elf had shown up. "Make sure the Elves are careful as the buildings are not stable, and there are more of these Stonemen around." he said indicating the bodies on the ground that made Dobby's eye widen when he finally notice the dozen or so corpses. "If you could do so safely, I would like to have the Elves put these pour souls out of their misery." he directed Dobby pointing to the Stonemen.

"We can bes doing that master Harry, but the land here be big, even with all the new Houses Elvies that have been born it will take some time." Dobby answered while looking around, probably using his magic in some way to get a sense of the size of the place.

"Wait Dobby what do you mean, how many new Elves have been born?" He asked. That lead him to learning about the quite quick rate that house elves could produce children, and many of those he had bonded with had been wanting children for a long time, but had been prevented from doing so by the previous masters. So as soon as they had joined him and the rest of his Elves they had gotten right down to business, and now Harry was bonded to over fifty more Elves. Not that he really cared, and he did not even need to bond them manually as it happen during their conception.

What that did mean was his basicly free labour force was increasing and that it would take even less time than he had thought for them to scourer all the ruins. "Well Dobby I would like you to keep a detailed list on all the items recovered and store them away in trunks. If you could also have all the books brought over to me that would be great." he said to the little guy with a smile happy that Dobby was happy about all the new little ones running around.

Dobby popped away and it was not long before they could see more Elves appearing in their vicinity using magic to hover things out of the way as they searched through the ruins. They both decided to let them do their thing as they would spend the time in the manor trunk, rather than having to constantly be reapplying their bubble head charm.

It only took an hour for a load of well preserved books to be delivered to Harry, which he promptly put in his LIS. He was so happy he had built in the translation function into the device rather than having to worry about doing it manually each time for each book. From those Harry was able to quickly pick out he figured out what had happened to cause the Doom.

It was a simple combination of two factors, the constant and over drawing of the volcanoes heat for various purposes throughout Valyria, and the constant blood sacrifices of slaves for use in their magic. See the major difference between the mage of Valyria and Wizards, was that Wizards had magical core and produced their own magic. Whereas the mages of Valyria had to channel magic of their surroundings, or when they wanted more powerful spells, the sacrifice of slaves to for fuel.

This was why the entire land, even centuries later felt steeped in black magic and that was because there probably had been millions of slaves sacrificed here over the years if some of the spell descriptions were accurate. That did not mean there was not tons Harry could not learn to do and power himself from the books he was recovering. For example one of the books explained the process to make Valyrian Steel, but regrettably it required the use of dragon fire in the process.

However from the updates Dobby had been giving him they were recovering a decent amount of the Valyrian Steel, enough to make a few thousand swords and armour sets. Apparently Valyrians had used it for far more than just swords, as there was even forks and knives for dinner use made of the material. There was also tone of gold and other things recovered, but much of it had been wasted away by time and the toxic atmosphere. Almost nothing organic had survived including any leather items. However for as much destruction as there was, Harry had been expecting a bit more lava related damage.

One thing Harry had decided while staying here was that whenever they decided to settle down at could NOT have any slavery, as every time he encountered it here in Essos he got more sick of it. However at the same time he accepted that it was simply the way of things here and unless he wanted to start a massive civil war across the entire continent there was nothing he could do about it. And he was done fighting other people's wars for them, at least for now.

Another side effect of the ongoing search and recovering was that Dobby informed Harry they were running out of spare expanded trunks. Which meant that he had to use some of the ironwood they had purchased to start making his own trunks for storing stuff in. This was great practice for him for more complex magical items he may do in the future. Annoyingly he found out how easy it was, and that it had a lot more to do with magical reserves and recovery time than anything else. In fact Harry was easily able to make larger trunks, nearly three times the size on his first few tries because of his power level.

The reason he had not gotten more trunks back on Earth was because originally he had thought they would have been emptying some when they arrived; but it just seemed like they just kept adding more and more stuff they purchased to his storage. Not that he was complaining, if anything he was an overpreper and a bit of a pack rat. Anyways it would all be helpful in the future, if just to be consumed or used by them to create their future pad.

While Harry was studying his books he was receiving from the Elves, Sirius was putting the dragon eggs they recovered into incubation chambers, that would keep them healthy, but not hatch them. They were hoping that some of these eggs would recover from their petrified state into a state that may be hatched in the future. It was entirely possible, with the extra magic in the air in the trunk and the ideal environment they created. It also didn't hurt that they had already gotten about a hundred and fifty eggs in only two weeks.

They had no plans to hatch the eggs, as the stories of dragons here on this worlds actually scared them a bit with their sure size and power. Till they knew how the Dragon Lords had controlled the creatures, there was zero chance they would hatch one, and Harry was not going to chain one down just so it could not terrorize people in the dragon's surroundings. The other thing was that all the dragon egg seemed to contain far more magic than Norberts had on Earth. This probably was part of the reason they were so much more than Earth's dragons.

It took nearly four weeks for the elves to finish searching for things to recover. In that time Harry had made over 200 more trunks and had studied many thousands of books from his LIS, in other words he was in a state of nirvana. Magic and Learning, two things he really enjoyed. From Valyria they decided to head to Meereen, supposedly the most impressive of the slave cities. They didn't even bother with the others as there was only so much slavery they could take.

Their arrival was even easier as they simply slipped into the city on brooms and found an ally they could demount in and drop their charms. The slavery here was overt to an extreme that even Lys' wasn't. There were masters who brutally discipline slaves in public, while there also seemed to be many that went about their days as if it did not bother them. He imagined there were many slave here that were multi generational and had no inkling of freedom.

For some reason slavers bothered Harry even more than he expected them to, even accounting for his past. He just really hated them, though he did not reject slavery outright, temporary criminal slaves working to pay back the community they wronged did not exactly sound terrible to him.

In fact during their visit, Harry bought a slave he encountered who was being abused by his master, but had impressed Harry. When they had arrived they had heard tons about the fighting pits, where even free men went to make their fortunes. Sirius had convinced him to attend with him and a visit noble of Westeros that Sirius had somehow encountered and made friends with. It was during the championship at the main event when one of the slaves killed his opponent too quickly in a display of extreme skill. His master on the other hand was upset at the lack of show he had put on.

During their attempts to leave they had gotten separated from Sirius's new friend and Harry had encountered a master beating the champion with a wood rod for his failure to put on a show for some of their guests. Harry not wanting to see it continue and because he could use a man with that level of skill, he approached the two men and their group of guards and servants.

"Good master." Harry said while putting on a sicking smile to get the attention of the slave master. "I saw this slave here battle today, and see you are having issues with him. Allow me to purchase him off of you." Harry said in the High Valyrian that he had ripped from the mind of a nasty slaver he had seen abusing a girl in an alleyway a few nights before. It had been helpful since they had been here in not getting lost, even if Sirius complained it was cheating, as he was pants at the mind arts.

The slave master critically looked up and down Harry's and Sirius's clothes, and sneered a bit. "You cannot afford him, go away you are wasting my time." The slaver said dismissing them.

"Just give me a price, we may surprise you." Harry replied almost losing his temper. He really could use a talented sword master to teach him to actually use the sword at his hip and really do it justice. Right now he was basically relying on some basic skills from the Hunter he had polished up a bit and his superior physical ability.

"Five thousand honors." the man sneered at him before turning away. Harry did some quick math in his head and realize the man want about 200 Dragons for the sword master. It was an incredibly high price, overcharging him by a lot, as a slave could go for as low as a silver stag, and most went for a few dragons at most.

"Agreed." Harry said commandingly while pulling out a pouch full of Honor from his satchel he had started wearing containing his mokeskin pouch. The slave master was shocked, and so was the sword master who looked him over with scrutiny. Harry started to count out the stacks of honors, which where bound into lengths of 100 for convenience.

With the money in his hand the slave master shoved the swordsman's over to them. "Here he is your issue now, and if you want his wife as well it will be another 1000 honors." the slave master said greedily, jolting Harry as he had not even thought about the possibility the man had a family. Harry handed over the requested money, and one of the woman he had assumed was a servant moved over to their party.

They moved away from the group of slaves and started to make their way back to the Inn Sirius had previously selected for them. Thankfully they had gotten two rooms this time, as they might need them now. The two slaves followed them quietly not making a sound and seemed resigned to their new positions. Though the man didn't look too upset, as he probably knew his own worth.

"Master what is it you wish of me?" asked the sword master.

"Well first I would like yours and your wife's name." he said looking over his shoulder at the two following him giving them a smile of encouragement, which didn't seemed to have the desired effect.

"My name in Larim and my wife is Melisandre." Larim said indicating with his eyes that he was still waiting for the answer from his last question. They had just about arrived at the Inn so he told them to wait till they were in their room before he explained.

Inside their room Harry sat down on the bed and started to talk. "I am in need of a talented instructor to teach me how to use my sword properly" he said patting The Sword of Gryffindor on his hip. "I also hate slavery, so I will be setting you two free and you can make the decision whether to follow us on our travels and accept the job of teaching me the sword." he said finishing his bit.

He honestly didn't truly care to much if he decided not to teach him, as it was only a tiny bit of money lost, and he could find another teacher, maybe not quite as talented, somewhere else. However Harry was surprised when Larim quickly accepted their offer before asking the terms. Harry pulled out a contract parchment and quickly started writing down the terms, and protection so neither could betray each other.

Harry was going to pay twenty stags a month to each for their service in his household. It was a fairly generous offering as they could easily live on that for a year, let alone a month. The contract also prevented them from betraying him or spilling his secrets. After they had signed Harry gave them their first pay in advanced and took them into his trunk.

To say they were shocked at first was an understatement, and Melisandre got on her knees and started asking for forgiveness in not recognizing their divine selves. That got Sirius laughing in stitches as Harry fell over himself denying that they were not gods, just powerful users of their own brand of magic, far different than any they had seen used anywhere on Essos.

That had calmed them down, both in the sense they were not blood magic users, and that they were not gods walking amongst the mortals. After that Harry showed Larim his sword, only after giving him a few warnings about the poison imbued in the blade. To say the man was impressed by the blade was an understatement, but apparently the blade resisted him when he swung it. Larim said that it was almost like he was trying to swing a sword through water, Sirius told Harry that this meant that blade had claimed him as its owner and would not work for anyone else till he died and passed it on.

Harry was a bit excited to be deemed worthy by the blade for such an honor, but that was quickly gone as Larim started putting him through the paces. Dobby appeared then to the surprise of their new residents of the villa. It had been decided that they both would stay in the trunk till Harry and Sirius finished their travellers and settled somewhere. Dobby quickly had Melisandre chatting happily and leading her off towards a residence the Elves were quickly putting up for the new guests. Apparently House Elves had the ability to speak nearly any language they hear, which was another thing about them that Harry had no idea about, even if they spoke it with their childish manner.

Larim spent nearly a week beating the basics into Harry, but apparently he was a fast learner and Larim thought it would only take him a few years to learn the art to a sufficient level. That meant that Harry had a bit of time to start making some local purchases. One thing he wanted to get a lot of was copper, which was present in serious quantities in the Ghiscari hills in the region.

This meant making some large orders, but this time unlike in the other cities, they only rented a warehouse, as Harry didn't really have any plans for any permanent presence in Slaver's Bay, or in most of what they like to ironically call, the 'Free Cities'. Though it was fairly easy to organize a metric crap ton of copper to be delivered, and Harry had plans to use for plumbing in the future. It was not cheap by any means, but it was still far cheaper than if they tried to get it in Westeros.

One thing Harry had noticed so far in Essos is that it seemed that while the cities practiced a lot of slavery they were more wealthy than their counterparts in Westeros, and that mostly had to do with the fact there was minor industries and artisans all over Essos were as Westeros seemed more stuck in being an agrarian and resource based economy. That didn't mean it could not change quickly, whereas slavery seemed so ingrained into society here in Essos.

From Meereen they took a trip across the Dothraki sea and observed a few of the horse lords, who reminded Harry a bit of the Mongolians. They saw Kahls battle it out with each other and then the two armies would merge into a larger horde that then continued along. They did not bother landing as apparently trading was anathema to the Dothraki and they had nothing to offer them in terms of sights to see.

From there they decided to make there way back to the west as they had come to the conclusion between the two of them that Essos's culture was just not something they felt they could live with for any extended periods of time. Whereas Westeros was still different, but far closer to what they experienced at home in Britain. So they decided to start making their way back east toward Qohor.

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A/N: Well here is the first chapter, it got a way too long and even had to be cut into two. The next segment should be coming out in the future sometime soonish. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Remember I read all the reviews and try to reply to those I can.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Some people are worried about me not writing for my other story, I want you all to know that is not the case. In fact I have about 50k words ready to be put together for chapters for that story already done (needs some editing too). The reason I am not posting is everything is planned out fairly concretely and I need the stuff on my desktop to piece the chapters together, as it contains my outline, notes, plan, and parts of chapters 9 and 10. Part of the reason I wanted to start this story is I had too much unstructured content for my other story that I was starting to get a bit confused at times organizing it. That being said THANKS to all those who reviewed, I tried to answer as many as I could, for the guest reviewers if you would like answers set up an account and then I can reply to your questions or comments ;).

S/N: Something I get often, in this story and on my other, is about me telling people what is happening rather than showing them a lot of the time. That is true, mostly because telling someone the story takes about 10 times less words than showing them. I honestly do not feel like writing 100k words of Harry and Sirius travelling around Essos. Therefore I choose moments where I change it from telling to showing when I feel it works best with the story. Sorry to those who like stories in the other style of showing than telling, but that is now what I will be doing with either of my stories.

C/N: This chapter is similar to the second one and is the end of their travels and finally settling down a bit. Hopefully people enjoy the direction I have chosen, and if you have any suggestions send me a message or leave a review. This story is only loosely planned unlike my other, therefore good suggestions could be easily worked in if I feel they fit with current and future plans.

To clarify for some Harry and Sirius landed in Westeros at around 165ac or 145 years before the events of Game of Throne season 1.

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Chapter 3:

167ac

It took a few days to make it to Qohor, the so called land gateway between the east and west of Essos. Qohor was well known for it various artisans, but even more so for their blacksmiths and steel foundries. Along that vein Harry had sought out a teacher that would impart their skills to him, of course for a price. While Harry could have probably learnt everything he was taught or even better from his books, there was something to say about learning under the eyes of a master of the art.

It did not hurt that he really enjoyed making things with his hands like this and found the rhythm of the craft to be to his liking. It was almost soothing and allowed his thoughts to flow free and weirdly concentrate on his work as a result. The progress that Harry made shocked his teacher, but not so much himself, he expect better of himself than he did others, by a lot.

Obviously his prodigious learning speed was more due to his magical abilities, than how limited or easy the art was to learn, which it was not. Even with his abilities he was only still considered a moderately skilled blacksmith with many years of practice needed to make the amazing pieces he would be able to take pride in. Thus was born his hobby he would be pursuing when he needed a break from all of the things going on in his life.

It was incredibly rewarding seeing something taking shape, or when two metals welded together just perfectly that you were able make amazing patterns when finished. This also led him to read a few books from his LIS on magical blacksmithing, as during his smithing he noticed that as he worked the metal, his magic was being slowly infused into the material. He was even able to augment this process by either drawing his magic back to prevent it from happening or even intentionally infusing his magic into the material to increase the effect.

It did not seem to do anything other than amplify the inherent properties of the material he was working just by itself and without structure. He did learn, once again from a book by Celtic wizards, that if he focused on the outcome he wished magic to take while forging, it would be infused with some level of that ability. Obviously the Celtic wizards did not have either his insane levels of magic or control, as Harry was able to make whatever he was working take of the properties he desired, within a limit. This was of course reliant on him either infusing enough magic into the material or spending long enough working it.

That was when he really started to love the art, as each of his works, while not perfect by any sense, were absolutely unique. It was because of the magic, his mindset when forging that piece, and what he had desired out of it, all coming together to affect the outcome. It seemed to almost give each of his creations a bit of a personality not unlike what Hogwarts seemed to have, but to a far lesser degree.

Once he had learnt all he could from the master smith without letting on that he had more knowledge on the art, he took to using the forge that Dobby had setup for him in his trunk. His first real attempt at magical blacksmithing was something a bit more simple, and that was a set of daggers.

Each dagger contained strengthening procedures to give them unrivaled blades, but also were enchanted similar to the sword of Gryffindor to return to their owners or to be able to be drawn out of anything with a big enough opening. That did not mean he had forgotten or ignored the mundane aspects of improving the blade. He had folded the steel he was using over and over again making an absolutely beautiful Damascus pattern, that seemed to actually flow up and down the blade due to the magic. It made for something incredible that one could lose time just looking at the pattern and still not be satisfied.

Speaking of the Sword of Gryffindor, he had also started to study that blade to try and glean a few of the secrets the Goblins used in its forging. It seemed the universal lesson from all his sources of knowledge, was that the material was arguably the most important factor. That seemed obvious, but the Goblins seemed to have taken the process to the extreme, as it seemed that every process in the making of Globin Silver was imbued with magic, from the mining to forging of their weapons.

However silver would not be enough for his works so he experimented with many alloys. In fact because of his ridiculous strength he was probably one of the only people alive in this planet that could forge the titanium, Valyrian Steel alloy he had created. It kept the properties of normal Valyrian steel but gained even more toughness and hardness. At first he was not sure what he was going to call the alloy, but the alloying process caused each blade have a shadowed white look to the metal, which gave him the idea for the name of Snow Steel.

In his pursuit for more time while forging caused Harry for the first time to cracked out his Time Turner. As he only needed an hours sleep a night, he had a ton of time when Sirius was sleeping and he was doing whatever met his fancy at the time. This was a perfect time to use his Time Turner and allowed him to maximize his time in Qohor learning more about his new hobby, and still have time to train with the sword.

However Sirius was getting antsy as there were few whore houses in the city, as it was seriously restricted. So they decided to make their way to Novos which was the city that provided much of the iron ore for the great forges of Qohor.

When they arrived they were delegated to the visitors sections of the city, as Novos was almost like a super communist state controlled by a Theocracy, where much of your life was determined by your status, including when you could have sex. So suffice it to say there was nowhere for Sirius to go and blow off a bit of steam. It was definitely not somewhere that either Harry or Sirius wanted to stay, but Harry wanted to get a decent amount of Iron ore before they left, so they had to stay for nearly a week.

From Novos they made a straight shot across the mountains to Pentos that was directly across the Narrow Sea from King's Landing. Pentos was as bit of a cross between Westeros and Essos, with slavery being banned, but still employed with indentured servants and a combination of various building designs. However they did have access to a ton of the goods, such as glass, that was coming from Myr to Bravos. Harry had them stocked up on silks, lace, glass, and even carpets during their quick stop.

There was little else of value to them in Pentos, and it seemed their buying spree had attracted the attention of a few of the merchant lords that controlled the city. They bailed before their shadows that had been following them around decided to do something more than simply watch. Hopefully when they were gone they would be quickly forgotten. Fortunately before they left they had already set up a warehouse and manager, this time a woman by the name of Elise.

Bravos was like a breath of fresh air in many respects. One it was simply an amazing city, with their connected islands of boats and amazing bridges, let alone the giant Titan that watched over the entrance to the bay. It also had NO slaves, and if it was not for the fact that magic was frowned upon a bit here due to the bad taste the former slave founders had for the mages of Valyria it may have been a great place to settle down. Sirius had asked for them to stay a bit and so Harry decided for them to start making a public name for themselves here.

They decided that they would keep their names and not bother with using anything else, mostly because they did not see a need, however Harry did decide to go by Hadrian as he had gotten a few laughs from people in the past few months when introducing himself as Harry. He was not the biggest fan of Hadrian, but it fit in with their persona of being from the North, and sounded better than the alternatives, at least those that didn't throw away the name his mother had picked out for him.

To first start making a name for themselves, instead of buying a single warehouse they bought a dozen and set up a business renting the space out and having it managed by a good lad named Bran Snow, a 'fellow' Northerner that had come to Braavos to make a life for himself. It would also help them with their next step, which was to have three trade ships to be built and manned by crews they were going to have assembled.

It was actually not hard as Bravos thrived off of traders and ship production, meaning that there were ample Captains looking for new vessels to man, and crew positions easily filled. There were many different pay programs for the crew, but they settled on straight salaries with bonuses which was a happy surprise for those they were hiring. There were some fairly unfair pay programs in use throughout this world.

At first Harry had wanted to have the three ships based off of Carracks from Earth, but quickly found out that even if he gave the blueprints to the shipwrights they would have no way to build what he wanted without serious time and money. Therefore he bought three ships that were almost finished being built and left them to their new captains. He had one stay doing local routes between Bravos and Pentos as they may need it sometime in the future, and didn't want it to be months away. The other two he had them doing trips between King's Landing, Braavos and Dorne, passing goods between their warehouses for a tidy profit.

With the money they were throwing around they had started to catch the attention of many people around the city, and they had decided their back story was going to be: that they were two close family friends from The North, who had decide to head to Essos and make their fortune as merchants. After a few years making money in the east they decided to pack up and head closer to home. This way they were able to have an excuse for their money, and cause no one to start asking questions they didn't want to answer. It didn't hurt that Sirius was socializing like he was born to it with the wealthy of the city, and sharing outlandish stories of their 'merchant adventures'.

It did do the trick of spreading their name around, as they even had a few people approach them about investing in a few businesses and trade opportunities. Harry looked over all the proposals closely and only rejected the ones he felt were going to fail. Sometimes that was as simple as his magic almost giving him a feeling that said enterprise was going to fail and he shouldn't invest, so he didn't. In the past he had thought that this feeling was his gut telling him what to do, but ever since they arrived here in this world, the feeling had more substance to it and felt magical in nature.

They spent almost six months making a name for themselves in Braavos so that anyone who would check up on their identities in the future will at least be able to track them back to Braavos. One of the things that had surprised Harry was when a representative of the Iron Bank had sought him out, especially when he was the one sought and not Sirius. He observed the person who had just been let in and introduced to his private dining room in the fancy hotel they were staying at.

"What can I do for you Mr. Breken?" Harry asked the representative of the Iron Bank who had been introduced by the manager of the established as we was being let in.

"Mr. Potter it has come to the attention of the Iron Bank that you and your business partner, Mr. Black, have been successful in the far-east and have ample funds to support your future ventures. We at the Iron Bank would like to offer to open you an account with us so that we can start investing your money for you as well." Breken said while giving his honest speal. Harry checked the man's surface thoughts and found he was being honest and was here to find new wealthy clients for the bank.

"Why have you sought me out and not my companion Mr. Black?" he asked the question he had been wondering since the man had walked into the room.

"From our short investigation, it was our understanding, that Mr. Black was the public face and socialite of your group, and that you were the brains and operational manager that mostly worked from behind closed doors." Breken said honestly. While definitely a funny summation, it was true to some extent, as Sirius left all the decisions up to Harry.

"How much would the bank like for an initial deposit on opening an account?" he asked getting to the real question.

"A deposit of ten thousand dragons is required to open an account, and must only be maintained for six months. Afterwards the balance of the account only needs to stay positive for the account to remain open after any debts have been settled." Breken went into his sales speech.

"Alright I will have a few of my workers bring a chest or two with myself tomorrow to the bank. What time would be best for you?" he asked Breken not wanting to have to deal with a new person tomorrow.

"Anytime after dawn will work. However for future reference the bank is open all day for account holders, and you may use the services during the night if you wish." Breken said continuing his practiced speech.

"Well then I shall see you tomorrow." he said while standing to shake the man's hand. Harry had been thinking about going to the bank and inquiring about opening an account, but this had just saved him a bunch of time.

"Very good Mr. Potter, I look forward to seeing you on the morrow." Breken said as he left.

Sirius returned that night, and Harry gave him the news about Breken's approach earlier in the day and Harry rubbed in the fact that he was the 'brains' of their operation. Sirius did confirm that some of his contacts had told him that some of the Iron Bank representatives were asking around about them, but had been told it was a fairly normal occurrence, as they kept updated on almost all wealthy people in the city.

It was during these months that Harry and Sirius had a few serious, no pun intended, conversations about where they wanted to settle down. It really came down to two places and was not truly a hard decision in the end. They had decided to settle in the North if possible, but were willing to settle, heh, for Dorne.

The reasons were fairly simple, being that The North had friendly but realistic people, the much more potent magical environment, the fact that the Old Gods were not against magic unlike their southern counterparts, and finally was the fact that there was so much open land they could settle on and still have privacy.

With their final destination in mind, that meant they needed to go back to Winterfell to talk to Lord Stark about purchasing land, and about getting a title to go with it that they would need to be taken serious in Westeros. They had their local ship filled with goods, mainly those from Essos, and set sail for White Harbour. White Harbour was the only place in the North were they worshiped the Seven and both of them were expecting the typical southern attitude that came with that worship, however they were pleasantly surprised.

The people of White Harbour were just as welcoming as those they had met in Winterfell. They even were introduced to the son of Lord Manderly, Wendel, who was helping with tax collection at the harbour. Probably as a learning experience for when he had to start ruling in his father's place. What that meant was they were able to make proper introductions as wealthy merchants looking to become landed nobles in the North. They even started to spread their story of rags to riches by starting a trade business in Essos.

From there they were introduced to Lord Manderly who was a large man, not fat, but of large stature. They spent a few days sharing some of their goods, such as wines from Reach and Dorne while getting to know the area a bit. They had their ship stay in the Harbour to await their possible return from Winterfell, as they may need to to deliver supplies, or create a cover for the magic. After three days Sirius had asked Lord Manderly for a letter of introduction to Lord Stark to make their process of seeing him easier.

The large man had acceded to their request and gave them a letter that would speed up the process. They had also learnt that during their two year trip around Westeros and Essos, the North had been attacked by both a large Wilding raid from beyond The Wall, and most unusually an attack on the eastern coast by Ironborn raiders. Apparently Skagos had been hit especially hard, not that anyone here cared as it seemed most of the North had bad opinions of those living on the island.

This may mean that there was some land that was missing its lords, if the raids were as bad as Lord Manderly said they were. With that in mind they started their journey to Winterfell after giving farewells to their hosts. Once again they were back on their brooms after months of having put them away. Harry felt it was nice to finally get back into the air, as he had been busy over the last few months, between furthering his skills in magic, blacksmithing, and the sword, all while setting up some minor businesses in Braavos.

Therefore the leisurely trip to Winterfell was just what he needed. Sirius was also happy to be back in the north, as he said the lasses here reminded him of home, and a little bit of Ireland, with the odd freckled redhead. Their trip also served to reinforce to Harry about the sure potential of The North and how much of it was just waiting to be tapped into. They pasted sprawling mountain ranges that seemed to not ever have been explored for mining, covered in timber that could be used to expand many industries.

It was a nice seeing the large castle of Winterfell in the distance, as they performed their well practiced maneuver of dismounting their brooms and mounting up on their horses. Their horses had gotten even stronger and were in much better shape than when they had left, it was mainly because of all the time they had spent in the highly saturated magical manor trunk. They rode into Winter town with a nod to the guards and could really see no difference from the last time they were there, beside it be a bit more on edge and somber. He imagined that was because of the recent attacks on the North.

They went to a more upscale inn this time around and Sirius went out to collect some information for them. Which was basically code for some drink and maybe a quick toss in the hay. However he did come back with all the recent gossip and the mood of the people in Winter town.

Apparently the Iron Throne had done little to reprimand the Iron Islands after their raids on the east coast of The North. The already negative opinion of The Iron throne in The North was lowered even further. Apparently many people here can still dream of the times were they were not under the yoke of a central government in the south.

While sure the Iron Throne once again sanctioned the Iron Islands, they did little more than the empty gesture and moved onto things they felt more important. This may be able to be played to their advantage if they approached Lord Stark correctly. With that in mind Harry and Sirius got spiffed up and took the short walk from their inn to the front gates of Winterfell, where they were stopped by the guards on duty.

"State your business, Lord Stark is not taking public audiences today." The guard on the left said calmly without any arrogance and by simply putting out his hand to stop them coming forward anymore. There were two guards standing outside the gates, and about a half dozen standing inside the gateway to prevent people from just barging their way in. They wore hard leather that had the Stark sigil pressed into it, but it looked like sturdy material, and was a far better choice than just straight steel up here in the cold north.

Harry was fairly confident that they would be successful to some degree with their request, as The North could use some additional wealth coming into it. Especially considering the recent two years, and the fact that everyone thought Harry and Sirius to be Northerners. So he took one more step forward to address the guard and taking out Lord Manderly's letter from his satchel at the same time.

"We are here to request a private audience with Lord Stark." he said while holding out the letter. "Here is a letter from Lord Manderly as introduction for Lord Stark." he said while he handed off the letter to the guard. The man only looked over the sigil to make sure it looked authentic before waving one of the other guards over.

"Send for Maester Kennet, there are some guests he needs to greet." The guard captain said to the clearly younger recruit, and handed him the letter to be brought to the Maester before turning to address them again. "We will need to wait here for Maester Kennet to confirm your letter and make an appointment for you to see Lord Stark." The guard captain said.

"That is fine." Harry said happily as it would speed things up if they could talk to Maester Kennet as well, as he would be able to answer any questions they may have about The North too. Harry didn't know much about the current Lord Stark, other than his name was Brandon, and he was the son of Cregan who was the previous Hand of the King. Harry's thoughts were interrupted as an old Maester approached, who looked to almost be eighty years old.

"I am Maester Kennet." Kennet said giving them a head nod in greeting.

"I am Hadrian Potter, and this here in Sirius Black." he said motioning to Sirius who nodded as well. They didn't exchange handshakes as that was not common between those who were unacquainted of higher standing in Westeros.

"The letter from Lord Manderly says you are successful Northern merchants who are looking to now become landed nobles?" Kennet asked clearly surprised, as Harry imagined most wealthy merchants chose to get land in the more prosperous south, even those of Northern decent.

"That is about the sum of it." Sirius said finally deciding to use a bit of his charm to move things along. "We visited many places in our travels, but there was always something about the region that made us miss The North that much more. So when we were in a position to settle down we decided to try to see if we could get titles and land here first before moving to our second choice." Sirius said happily as if he was starting a long story.

"I can understand that as well, the north has always been my home and in these many years here I could not see myself living anywhere else." the old man said smiling as he looked around the landscape surrounding Winterfell. "Well Lord Stark has room to see you in two days time for a private meeting, if that will work for you two?" Kennet asked.

"That works great for us as we had a bit of business to deal with soon anyways." Harry said thinking about what they need to do next. "Would you know who we are to talk to about purchasing land in or around Winter town? We hope to build a nice manor for when we stay in the area." he asked believing the man would know the answer.

"Well you are in luck, you are speaking to him." Kennet said with a smile. "Do you know what land you are wanting to purchase?"

"We are not quite sure what is available, though we did spend a bit of time looking around for possible locations." Harry answered honestly.

"Well then young man let us go to my tower and we can see what land is available." Kennet said while turning around and walking away clearly indicating for them to follow. This was reinforced by the guard captain standing back and indicating they could enter. It seemed that there was other business that could gain them entry into Winterfell other than just speaking to Lord Stark.

Winterfell was in good shape, if a bit spartan. However it certainly was a massive fortress, easily the biggest in Westeros, besides that of the Rock, and that only won the competition because it stretches for hundreds of meters into the ground. There was also what appeared to be a big forest and garden just to the right of the main courtyard they were passing through. Harry also saw a few large greenhouses he expected they used to grow food during the winter months.

It was honestly quite impressive and gave Harry ideas about including a lot of different areas to his own fortress to balance it out a bit in the future when he finally gets around to designing one. They followed Kennet up the stairs at his slow pace, but at least the man's office was only a single floor up and not at the top. Without saying anything he pulled out a few large pieces of parchment and rolled them out on the big table in the middle of the room, clearly experienced at the process.

"Well here we is a map showing the ownership of the land surrounding Winterfell, and here it is for The North." Kennet said indication the smaller and then much larger, but less detailed map. Apparently there was quite a bit of land that no one owned in and around Winterfell. Obviously that land was controlled by the Starks, but if he guessed right most of it was up for sale as long as it was not being used.

Sirius was looking over the maps as well and not goofing off like he usually was. It made Harry happy that Sirius was invested in this as much as he was. There were a few locations in Winter town that might have been good enough if they wanted to have a small manor or large house with a yard, but not quite up to their standards. After about thirty minutes of discussion between them, Harry and Sirius decided on a large parcel of land just outside Winter town on the Kingsroad.

They were only getting two hundred meters of road front property but it still ended up being dirt cheap considering they were getting twenty acres. The fact that it was outside of Winter town proper made the transaction much easier, and 100 Dragons lighter and a deed in hand they left the Maesters tower as he escorted them back to the gate.

While they had the deed for the land, it was still under Lord Stark's direct rule, unlike the land they wanted to purchase in their private meeting. However they were also able to get permission to improve the section of the Kingsroad in front of their new land and the two to three hundred meters of road that separated their section from the gates of Winter town.

They decided to keep their rooms at the Inn for a the duration of the construction rather than setting up something temporary on their land. In fact they paid to rent out the entire inn so it was more private.

The first thing they did at their new land was to put up some wards and charms to prevent anything abnormal from being noticed, and even an illusion that was going to show work as it was being done. That last one was fairly complex and required Harry to modify it everyday in order to follow the progress of the House Elves as they showed their skill in building.

If there was one thing the House Elves did better than cooking or cleaning in Harry's mind then it had to be their ability to build anything to your exacting specifications. Harry was almost certain that they somehow used some passive magic to just known what you wanted rather than having to rely totally on your description as a normal builder would. He had told Dobby about his admiration of their skills, and it had apparently motivated some of Elves, as they had started wearing construction hats Harry had stored away.

Speaking of clothing, all the House Elves were forced by Harry to wear clothes. He said that it was not him releasing their bond, but that they represented House Potter and would not be seen in rags, or at least that was how he sold it to them. They had gone fairly crazy since then wearing what they fancied as long as it was in good condition, and they honestly brought smiles to his face when he saw their crazy outfits, like the hardhats as everyday wear.

They had told Maester Kennet they had some foreign crews already hired to do the building for them, but said they would source what materials they could locally. That meant that Harry had sent Sirius to various local business to start setting up deliveries of materials, mainly Ironwood, and granite blocks. Instead of buying additional land for a series of warehouses, they instead decided to setup a nice looking warehouse in the corner of their land. The entire piece was going to be surrounded by a twelve foot walls, to add a bit of extra protection from possible raiders, as they were outside the walls protecting Winter town.

Inside was going to be a nice Tudor styled manor, with about a dozen bedrooms, a reception and dining hall, and various other amenities that they both expected, like indoor plumbing, and heating. It was going to be fairly advanced and mostly made out of granite stone and Ironwood. The entire manor itself was basically a fortress not really needing the walls, but they did add a layer of privacy to hide some of the ongoings inside. That was why they were also the first thing to be built after the foundations.

The day came quickly for their meeting with Lord Stark. Harry even decided to wear the Sword of Gryffindor that he had been neglecting to wear since they had arrived in Winter town.

At times during their trip he had even been glamouring it to reduce scrutiny because of the delicately crafted silver hilt and the large rubies situated throughout. Thankfully it was a broadsword variant being just short and slender enough to comfortably sit as his hip. He didn't bother putting any glamours on it to disguise it as it was going to become a known quantity of his house.

They were given a brief once over by the same guard captain that was at the gate two days previous and were waved in with nary a word. Maester Kennet was waiting on the inside of the gates for them, and smiled when he saw them approach.

"I have heard you are already quickly started construction and the procurement of materials for your manor." Kennet said with a smile, clearly happy about the new ongoings in Winter town. He started walking as he looked to them to answer.

"Yes, we felt regardless of the situation at hand that we would want to have a manor close to the heart of The North." Sirius said with his usual Black smile. "I placed some orders in ahead of the time when we would need the materials, and some extra for possible trade, or to use on our new lands if today's meeting is successful." he finished to the attentive Kennet.

"That is good, it is nice to see new coin making its way into the economy." Kennet said before becoming a bit pensive. "And it is no secret that the North could do with a bit of good fortune with what has happened in the last two years." the man said unhappily, clearly his feelings about the situation leaking through. "Well enough about unhappy thoughts, do you two have any more plans in the area?" This time Harry handled the question.

"Yes, a few, such as possibly purchasing some land on Kingsroad that stretches from it to the Whiteknife, most likely just to the west of Winterfell to possibly set up a relay for trade goods if we start trading within the North." Harry said. "However a lot of that is reliant on how our meeting goes here today." he finished as they finally made it too what he presumed was the audience hall.

Kennet nodded and led them inside and took a position to the right and behind the young man who was sitting on the sturdy wooden throne chair. He looked no older than thirty, but seemed to have an interested look on his face towards this meeting. Which was only good for them. When they got within a few paces they both performed deep bows and but did not kneel as he was not their liege lord yet.

"You are Hadrian Potter?" Brandon Stark said looking to him, which he replied with a nod. "And you are Sirius Black? No relation to the brothers of the night's watch?" he asked Sirius.

"No my Lord, my family has had the named Black for generations." Sirius told him.

"Kennet here and Lord Manderly's letter sate you are wealth merchants originally from the North, who found their success in Essos and the far-east, but now you want to become landed nobles here in the North?" Brandon asked not letting much show on his face.

"Yes my lord." Harry answered drawing attention back to him, Brandon was probably assuming Sirius was the one who normally lead their group due to him being nearly twenty years Harry's senior. "There are many reasons for choosing to settle down here rather than other places. One being the people and the honor of most Northerners. Another being the potential in the North that could be tapped into with a bit of money and knowledge. Let alone the fact that there is the Old Gods here and no slavery." Harry said with a bit of heat in his voice about the last one.

"Well it is not everyday that new lords are appointed here in the North, but that is usually because of a lack of means on others parts." Brandon answered honestly, showing a bit of the Stark honest honor they were known for. Not that one should underestimate them, wolves could be vicious when they needed to be. "What are you exactly looking for?"

"Well we would like to both gain titles, and large pieces of land we could start improving." Harry answered similarly with his honest intents. "Somewhere a bit private so we don't need to worry about too many neighbors, and hopefully somewhere on the coast, preferably the east coast." Harry finished, almost ticking of criteria in his head.

Both Lord Stark and Kennet looked thoughtful, before Kennet leaned over and whispered something in the young Lord's ear. Who almost looked excited by the prospects of whatever Kennet had suggested before centering his attention back on them. "What are your financial limits on purchasing your titles and land?" Brandon asked them.

"Well my lord, we have been extremely successful, and even have an account opened up with the Iron Bank that is fairly flush with gold." Harry answered not wanting to give away all their cards. "It would entirely depend on the land being offered, to determine how much we could ourselves afford to spend on it." he said showing a bit of their supposed merchant creed, which got chuckle and a soft muttered 'merchants' from Lord Stark.

"Well Kennet had a wonderful idea, that the current situation makes all the more practical." Brandon said referring the recent two years of strife in the North. "The last living relative of the noble house that ruled Skagos in our name, died in the Ironborn raids. I would suggest, if it is within your means, for one fo you to take over the islands there, as well as one of you taking a smaller portion of land on the east coast just south of the new gift." lord Stark said excitedly, mostly likely because the Starks had historically had issues with getting the inhabitants of Skagos to pay fealty.

The lands offered were almost perfect and Harry was going to request something similar on the east coast anyways, but getting all the islands of Skagos was not something he expected. Honestly if what he knew was right, just the island of Skagos was nearly three hundred miles long, and two hundred at its widest. Meaning there was a ton of land, and that was just the main island. Harry honestly didn't really care about how large of land they were offered on the mainland, Skagos would do them just fine.

"One of you will have to choose to take the smaller section of land below the New Gift for your house." Brandon said as he saw them seriously considering the offer. "Both areas will also need a lot of work as there is hardly any people left living there any longer." he finished a bit solemnly.

"I don't think we will have any issue with that my lord." Sirius answered while Harry was still thinking all the implications over. "How much will this cost us?" he asked with a small smile poking fun at them being merchants still. Kennet once again leaned over and whispered into Brandon's ear, and a near silent discussion broke out between them from there. Harry used a bit of magic to sneak into their minds and see what they were discussing.

Apparently Kennet believed they should charge more than Brandon believed the lands to be worth. Kennet felt that twenty thousand Dragons was something Harry and Sirius would be able to afford and was not too high of a price. Whereas Brandon felt the lands were barely worth ten thousand Dragons, seeings they currently had no taxable income. Harry decided to cut in and make a generous offer, higher than even Kennet was suggesting to ask.

"My lord if I may make an offer that may be acceptable?" Harry interrupted their quite discussion and drew their attention back to him. "From my understanding the land offered while fairly barren of current industries and people, but have quite a bit of potential. I would like to offer fifty thousand Dragons between Sirius and Myself to be payable over the next year?" he put the offer out there.

To say that they were shocked as his generous offer was easy to see with Kennet's widening eyes. "Mr. Potter your offer is too generous, that land in question are not worth nearly that much." Brandon said displaying the renown Stark honor that was even known in Braavos.

"My lord, I understand where you are coming from, but I believe you to be underestimating the potential the North holds in its lands." Harry said a bit passionately. "With the extra gold we are offering, you will also be able to make some infrastructure improvements here around Winterfell which will mean more sources of income for lords of the North in the future." he explained his reasoning, and really the difference between ten and fifty thousand dragons to them was not much; but could mean the difference between thousands starving when winter came here in a year or so's time, and for there be ample food in the stores for all the smallfolk.

He still had not asked how much gold that Sirius had brought with him, as the man had not asked for any gold since they had left Winterfell two years ago. Sirius had also spent gold like it was going out of fashion during their trip, not holding back from those select few comforts they could find in this medieval world. Harry himself had just over two hundred million Galleons an ungodly amount of gold for this world. They would have to be careful, because if they were too quick in spending gold they could devalue gold causing major economic issues. Though this was offset a bit by the majority of lords who liked to hoard wealth rather than reinvest it.

That was part of the reason that Harry was thinking of setting up a small local bank that could produce a fiat currency of some kind. One that was backed against gold, but only in the sense that there was a standing buy/sell rate directly to the bank for gold that would fluctuate daily. This would also prevent someone else from devaluing the economy by flooding the market with one of the precious metals currently used.

"Well then kneel!" Lord Stark commanded happily of them while drawing his ancestral valyrian steel sword Ice. Harry and Sirius were a bit surprised by the abrupt change in proceedings but kneeled before their soon to be liege lord. "You kneel as common men, but will raise as Lords of the North, charged with it's defense, and defense of the realm as called upon by the Starks in the name of the King." Brandon said dubbing them with his sword. "Now swear fealty to the Stark family, and rise as Lord Hadrian Potter, and Lord Sirius Black." he finished with a flourish.

They quickly swore their fealty, thankfully it was not magically binding as it would not suppress them in that way. However that did not mean they didn't mean the oaths they took. So far Brandon Stark had shown them nothing but reasons to support his family and their lead in the North.

"My Lord." Harry said happily with a huge smile on his face. Sure he had been a lord to be in Britain, but it felt so much more real here and something he had more claim to. "If you would send a few of your guards with us to one of the temporary buildings on our new land outside Winter town, we could send them back with our first payment on our debt." he said happily hoping quick payment would be seen even more favorably.

"We can do that later, but first we feast to celebrate the raising of two new lords in the North!" Brandon said getting up from his chair and dropping some of the formalities while issuing orders to servants. "We must find out how good of a drinker you both are! You will find many a time deals are struck between Northern lords when sharing drinks." Brandon said happily as he lead them out of the audience hall to a small dining area. It was big enough to fit a few dozen people and was probably used for the smaller feasts or more intimate gatherings. "Sit." Brandon said pointing to two seats across from the one he took at the main table.

"My Lord I don't mean to question the quality of your drink, but on our travels we picked up some excellent examples of a few different types of drinks we encountered, would you wish to try some?" Harry asked thinking about all the alcohol they had from Earth and had purchased on their travels. Harry's idea certainly seemed to have peaked Brandon's interest as he looked excited at the prospect of trying some new drinks.

"That sounds great! Where do you have it stored?" Brandon asked.

"I will just need to go to our temporary construction site, as we have some of our goods we collected stored there, while the rest are still in Braavos, White Harbor or at a few of the other warehouses we own." He said to cover the fact that they were carrying most of it right on them.

"Well then I will send a guard with you to help carry some back and hopefully the food will start coming out by then." Brandon said while looking to a servant on the side who nodded her head in affirmation. "You better be quick I wanna try this new drink, and that's an order Lord Potter." Brandon said with a smile and humour in his voice. Harry was starting to really like this guy, and could even see him becoming a friend.

"At your command my lord." Harry said in a super over the top way followed by a deep bow, making Brandon burst out laughing. Harry left the hall with a guard in his wake and they made good progress to their manor's construction site. Having the guard wait outside, he went in and grabbed a few barrels of wines from their travels and few bottles of various selections from Earth which Harry promptly removed the labels of, but the bottles were distinct enough for Harry to recognize which was which without the label.

Moving outside he handed a box that he had put the bottles into to the guard, and took a small barrel under each arm as they made the five minute trek back to Winterfell. When they arrived they found Sirius and Brandon laughing and sharing stories over a cup of what appeared to be northern ale. Harry took his seat after setting down the barrels and box beside them on the table. He pulled out some spirits, Vodka in this case, and poured each of them a small measure in a few of the cups on the table.

"This here my lord is called Vodka." Harry answered before pounding it back. "It is usually drank quickly, but some enjoy sipping it as well." he finished. Brandon took the drink and followed Harry's example of shooting it back, however he was not prepared for the strength of the drink and started choking and coughing, much to the amusement of those present. From that point it degraded into Brandon challenging his chuckling guards to do better.

"This is a drink made for the North. It brings such a heat to your chest, and could wake up a deadman." Brandon commented after having his second shot of vodka.

The night basically ended up being a small scale party where many of Lord Stark's guardsman and various personal present in the castle joined them to add numbers to their group as there were no other lords currently at Winterfell. However it did allow for some more frank discussions between the three lords. Harry was also able to get answers to many of his questions and concerns.

He had asked about possibly getting people to migrate to Skagos, but Lord Stark said even if they had opportunities available the amount of people that would be looking for a new place would be low in the North. They may have a few hundred on a good year immigrate, but should expect less usually, and that was if they were openingly advertising. Brandon had told them that with the current losses in the last two years there would be few lord's willing to let their smallfolk leave. Though he did give his permission for them to try and get people from outside the North to migrate to their lands.

Brandon had not been kidding about deals being struck while drinking either, as they had ironed out more than one deal during the feast. For one they had gotten a large parcel of land on the Whiteknife as they had discussed with Kennet earlier and permission to build a small private port. In exchange they agreed to upgrade and repair the Kingsroad from their new piece of land all the way to Winterfell. It was only about thirty miles and was a fair deal all things considered.

What it did provide was a new place for them to set up a dock, possible business outlet, and warehouses to service some of their ships coming up the Whiteknife to trade in Winterfell. While trade may be slow at first, as they started up more and more industries on Skagos, they would be searching for customers, and access to the second largest city in the North was key to that goal.

The other deal they had secured was fairly broad permissions to setup various bylaws on Skagos, as long as they didn't conflict with existing laws of the Six Kingdoms. It had taken Harry explaining the need for such laws to streamline businesses to get the permission, but once he had it, it gave fairly broad powers. To go along with that they had gotten approval to setup a local bank if they wished. Apparently there was no rules that said they couldn't, but getting Brandon's approval would go along way to having legitimacy in the eyes of others.

Another outcome, that everyone even Kennet was shocked about, was how much booze Harry could chug while only being mildly inebriated at most. That for some reason seemed to gain him quite a bit of status amongst the men present and even had a few of the serving girl batting their eyelashes at him. In the case of one of the girl Harry was actually interested, as she was smoking hot redhead. Harry had ended up doing something he had not done often and had joined the young 'lady' in her bed that night.

The last major event of the night before he had gone off with his bed partner, was the sword of Gryffindor being asked about. Harry had drew it to the exclaim of everyone, and not in fright as the Northerners took guest rights so serious it probably didn't cross their minds, but because of its beauty. They had asked him what it was made of and he said the description he had found with it said that it was made of something called Mythril, going with the cover story he had for it.

That lead to them insisting they test it against good hard castle forged steel, which was funny as a huge gouge was cut into steel when the two swords crossed blades. It shocked almost everyone present and when someone wanted to hold it, Harry had to inform them about the magic in the blade that absorbed whatever it come into contact with to make it stronger. Followed by him telling them at sometime in the past it had taken on the properties of an extremely virulent poison. Everyone was careful after that, but no one didn't want to hold the blade and personally inspect it, Kennet being the largest culprit looking it over for nearly an hour. Even doing a sketch.

When he had returned to their temporary accommodation later the next day after his night 'out', Sirius had laughed so hard and said he was just like his father chasing those redheads around. It was only his occlumency that let him avoid blushing about the connection Sirius had made. The Stark guards were to arrive soon so as Harry had arranged for them to when leaving Winterfell to pick up lord Stark's first payment. Harry quickly pulled out a small chest from his pouch and used a coin counting spell to transfer twenty thousand Dragons from his money pouch to the chest, which was almost overflowing.

It was just in time as a squad of twenty guards arrived, shocking Harry with their number, but he guessed it made sense seeing they were going to be transporting a large amount of gold. Even if it was only a few minutes journey. Harry also laughed as the guards struggled with the one large chest and its weight, as he had set it down in front of them with little issue, showing off his strength. He also learnt from the complaints of the guards that for the next time he should split it up into smaller lock boxes.

They had told Lord Stark that they were going to stay in Winter town till their manor was finished being built, which was a going to be about half a year at the least. Unfortunately one of the few things Elves were not great at was planning out or doing the very initial surveys of land to determine where things should be built. Once you told them or gave them past examples, they were good to go, but what that meant was Harry needed to ride to the Whiteknife to determine how they were going to setup their dock and trade station.

Harry had decided to ride his horse for some extra practice as it was only about thirty miles away. He also brought along a Stark guard who knew that area well and was going to show him exactly where they were on the map so he doesn't just start building in the wrong place. Though that would be hard as the land they had gotten was actually sizable as they needed to build a road connecting the last three miles of kings road to the Whiteknife at this junction.

While the Kingsroad does pass the Whiteknife south of Winterfell, that area was already controlled by House Cerwyn who was only a half a days ride to the South. However they only seemed to have a small dock for some fishing vessels, and instead Winterfell mainly relies on trade caravans for goods. This meant that the dock Harry would need would have to be big enough for larger trade ships to dock at.

The Whiteknife was plenty deep and wide that it could have more than a single ship traversing it without issues. Even though it was getting shallower where they were building nearing the rivers start. So Harry decided on a four ship dock, with a dozen or so warehouses and a few buildings for office space and additional storage. He also had a small storefront built that could possibly sell some of their own goods in the future. Though being as far as it was Winter town meant they would probably only get more wealthy customers that could afford a horse or cart ride.

After returning to Winter town with the guard, who Harry tipped a silver stag for his help which got him many thanks, he dispatched a team of Elves to start building the trade hub. He had Winky, Dobby's new wife, put in charge of its construction and operation as Dobby was already working hard on the manor. Hopefully getting more work for Winky and then telling her that it was Dobby's request will earn the little guy some brownie points, and if her excitement was anything to go by, his little friend was probably gonna get some.

Honestly he would not mind seeing a few little Dobbys running around and while he had asked Dobby about seeing a baby Elf, he had been told they were not taken from their homes till they were basically teenagers. And because their homes were small there was no way for him to see one. He was definitely interested in seeing if they were uber cute or just ugly. Hopefully Dobby will let him see one their little ones when they come along, as he was not willing to ask any of the other Elves.

Work on improving the road also had to commenced quickly as the area around their land was starting to get damaged with the heavy traffic delivering various materials for the construction project. Harry wanted the road to be two lanes, one each side made out of stone that was cemented together closely to reduce any bumps to nearly nothing. It had to have proper drainage and a good ditch for snow removal. What this meant was that more Elves needed to be working outside the warded space and in the open to boot. This precipitated Harry to work on a bit of an enchanting project, as well as getting his forge modified to produce high quality cement.

He first did some research on the various ways that wizards had done semi-permanent illusions before, and worked from there. His goal was to create a small pendant his Elves could wear that would make them appear to be human, but the even more difficult part was to make the illusion physical as well. This meant that if someone smacked the head of an Elf, their hand would not just pass right through the illusion. Basically the pendant almost morphed the Elves outside physical body into the desired result. This meant they experienced the size change as well to some extent, except it was muted quite a bit.

Once he got the process down it was not hard to make a few hundred simple pendants in his forge and enchant them one after another. Though while he was at it, he had decided that there was no reason not to add a few protections, and permanent cooling and heating charms to the amulets. It would make whatever conditions the Elves were working in all that much more comfortable, and made Harry feel a bit better about so many of them refusing to be paid for their work as he had convinced Dobby to be. In fact Dobby was actually far richer than most of the population here on Westeros if you took the buying power of Galleons into account.

The warehouse on their manor land they were building was going to have some cleverly hidden expansion charms. This was to allow for them to hold as much as they need without it taking up too much room on their land, and away from the manor. When the foundations for the manor had gotten to the right place, Harry had put a wardstone down with basic protections he had been putting in most places, as well additional protections from magic and other possible attacks.

The whole area of Winter town seemed to be booming only few weeks after construction started. They had also hired locals to work under the Elves to build the roads and do lots of the preliminary work. This did require that Harry take a bunch of the more simple tools he had stored in his trunk from Earth, like pickaxes which was basically just a piece of shaped steel with a wooden handle, for them to use. He had seen poorer examples around so he was not afraid to pull them out and put them in the hands of workers. Regardless it created more good will in the community as they were not just hiring their 'foreign' crew anymore, and were providing jobs to locals as well.

Sirius had also ordered a lot more materials than they were going to need, stating that they were good prices, and we could ship them somewhere else to trade or use. Harry did not disagree, but as a result of them throwing a few thousand Dragons around the economy was having a revival from the slump of the last two years. It was good timing as summer seemed to be on the tailend and was going to be ending in what the Maesters believe to be just over a year.

While their manor was going to be to a scale of something rarely seen outside the large castles or fortress of some of the larger lords, it was not going to have the opulence of those found sometime in the south or in Essos. This was the North and there were standards. Though construction had already started on the main building as the foundation and wardstones were laid.

The first lord Harry got to meet since becoming one himself was Lord Cerwyn when Sirius brought him by their inn to greet him. The man was honest, open and was extremely interested in their project on the Whiteknife. In fact his family had been trying to save enough for a few decades to upgrade their own docks to be able to receive larger ships. That got them talking and Harry agreed to allow Lord Cerwyn to gain a 25% ownership of their new docks they were building in exchange for a hundred Dragons.

It was not about the money at all, but more about ensuring the there was no issues with House Cerwyn down the line, as it could be seen as taking away opportunities they thought they had some claim to. This way everyone was happy and Lord Stark even allowed them to expand the docks a bit and open it up to public traffic at the request of Lord Cerwyn. This meant they could start taking in docking fees and collecting some duties, which they only would have to pass on portion to Lord Stark.

Another result of the meeting was Lord Stark requesting them to improve the Kingsroad to Lord Cerwyn's castle as well. It was a hefty request as the distance was nearly seventy-five miles, and road building was slow, though in exchange Lord Stark said he would owe them a favour which Harry immediately agreed to. He was happy that he had not just offered them less off their debt, because really Harry was giving them more than they were asking for, for a specific reason.

This way if a need cropped up in the future they could cash in the favour, which was fairly large seeings as the cost of the road building was decently high. At this rate they may become known for road building in Westeros more than being merchants

Harry also got introduced to a few other Lords as they came to meet with Lord Stark about various things. There was an annual harvest feast held by the Starks each year which only some of the Lords were able to attend due to the sure size of the North. However it had been a month or so before they had arrived. This meant that they were most likely not going to be here for the next one, and only a few lords had business with Lord Stark in the time they had been in Winter town.

Construction went smoothly and about the only other things of note to happen was the crowds that liked to come and see the progress daily on their manor, and that Harry had been able to score access to the Stark Library, which he copied into his LIS. This resulted in Harry spending some time with Maester Kennet who Harry didn't actually mind as he seemed to be one of the few honest Maesters out there. In Fact he had ruled The North in Brandon's fathers place as he was down in Kingsland being the Hand of the King to a child. Harry also learnt tons about the local laws and what was expected of him as the lord of Skagos.

Another thing he found out was that Westeros used be home to two confirmed magical races, and few other suspected ones. The best known were definitely the Giants and Children of the Forest. That did not surprise Harry in the slightest due to how high the magic was on this planet, and especially here in the North.

It was during this time at one of the almost weekly small parties they had at Winterfell, that the discussion of magic came up. Not that Harry blamed them for having parties as it was one of the few sources of entertainment available in the region. Sirius had managed to tell a story about some of the magic they had encountered in Essos, not explaining that sometimes it had been themselves using it. The crowd had been entrapped by his stories, and when one of the guards had asked if he had any proof, before Sirius could say anything more and do something stupid while drunk Harry spoke up.

"This is probably a good time to broach this." Harry said getting everyone's attention, as he pulled out a small tabletop mirror from his bag and passed it to Brandon, who looked it over a bit perplexed at getting an arguably fine mirror. "This is one of the few magical artifacts that Sirius and I managed to collect during out travels." With that he had everyone's attention and most were trying to get a good look at the mirror in Brandon's hands.

"What does it do?" Brandon asked turning the mirror over looking for its function.

"Well my Lord, it works with a pair." he said pulling out a second similar mirror. "They are actually ingenious communication devices." he said before speaking lord Stark's name. Which caused the mirror in Brandon's hand to start ringing. "You simply need to answer the mirror my Lord by touching the center." he said as Brandon followed his instructions, which caused to everyone shock Harry's face to appear in Brandon's Mirror and vice versa.

"This is amazing." Brandon said as his voice came out of the mirror at almost the same time, causing everyone even more shock.

"These can be used at almost any distance, and as we will be taking over Skagos and some of the eastern coast I felt it would be a good idea to be able to contact you quickly and be able to have full conversations without the need of ravens." he said.

"How do I make it connect with your own?" Brandon asked looking at the mirror with even more reverence as its function was explained to him. Kennet was almost looking like a ghost had taken over at the possibility such mirrors could do if spread on a large scale.

Harry said end and tapped his own mirror ending the call. "Simply say my name, and it will connect to my mirror." he said to Brandon who did just that and caused Harry's mirror to ring which he tapped. "Now simply say end and tap the mirror to end the connection." Harry said.

"How do you know so much about these mirrors function?" Kennet asked from his seat down the table, more interested than anything else.

"There was a small book in High Valyrian describing their function when we found them." Harry said to the man to allay any suspicions he may have.

"I am surprised you can read High Valyrian." Kennet said pondering the discovery of the mirrors.

"I cannot, I just had someone translate them for me." Harry said before turning back to Brandon. "My Lord our manor is near completion and afterwards we are going to be leaving by boat at out new docks to Whiteharbour and from there to Skagos, as we need to get started construction on our new home before winter sets in." Harry said explaining their soon departure to their liege lord.

"It will be a sad time to see you two go as you have added much warmth to these halls, but winter is coming, and all men must prepare, even lords." Brandon said a bit more seriously than their past conversations. "I thank you for this precious gift. It is good that we can keep in contact, and I will make sure to check in often." Brandon said indicating the mirror.

Thankfully they were finally finished in Winter town, as Harry was smarting a tiny bit about how they had to delay construction of the manor so no one asked too many questions, like how they were building so quickly. Hopefully when they get to Skagos it won't be a problem. The road upgrades from their manor and the new docks was also complete and now work was progressing on the road towards Lord Cerwyn Castle. It was going to make this section of the Kingsroad the best section in all of Westeros, and they had been getting tons of compliments on their process and quality.

Kennet had actually made inquiries into the process for making their cement, but Harry told him it was a trade secret and something they may trade in the future. Kennet also asked them on behalf of the Starks about possibly doing the upgrades on the road for its entire stretch in the North. He had told him that they wouldn't be able to do it cheaply as it was a large piece of road to upgrade, but would be willing to undertake the project if the budget was ever successfully raised.

Harry had decided it would easier if they had a few of their Elves managing their manor and businesses in Winterfell as they could use magic more easily that way. It also meant that Harry didn't need to worry about security as much, as no one was going to be getting through an Elf protecting their home without some serious firepower. With the new pendant this became all that more realistic of an option and gave even more work to be shared amongst them.

Speaking of the elves, apparently more work equaled more of them getting randy and having even more kids. He had actually felt the additional magical drain over the last six months as their population grew, but he was not worried as it had not outstripped his magical growth yet. His magic also seemed to be constantly growing with all the use he was putting it through on a constant basis and the strain from the Elves was like walking around with weights on for his magic.

On the day they were leaving there was a bunch of the smallfolk they had impressed during their visit here waiting to see them off. After a few good farewells and promises to return they were off. The ride to their new docks was even better than the first one Harry took, and he was honestly surprised at how much of a difference a better road made. The entire trip, on horse so not something that even saw great gains from better roads, was reduced by nearly 5 percent with the new road. He could only imagine the gains carts or caravans would see.

When they arrived at the docks they saw almost all the buildings were up and the Ironwood docks were all finished. Now just some work on a security wall to surround the entire complex was underway. Their large Braavosi trade vessel was waiting to take them in Whiteharbour, where they were going to make a quick stop to get some supplies and thank Lord Manderly for his letter, and finally make their way to Skagos. They had decided to leave the area on the mainland alone for the time being and concentrate on Skagos to build up a solid power base.

End

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A/N: Well here is the chapter 3 which was mostly finished by the time i posted chapter 2, but still needed some work. Hopefully you all enjoy it and I am sorry but I cannot promise when the next chapter will be following. Remember to review, as they are a great sources of encouragement and ideas. 40k words will have to tie everyone over as I am moving into a period of heavy course load and will have little spare time, but don't let you that think I can't even surprise myself.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Spent way to much time writing for this story when I really should be working on projects and such for class, or other more important things in life, HOWEVER I was having to much fun writing this chapter. So here is the chapter way earlier than I thought it was going to be done and let me know what you think.

C/N: Ok I got a bit, I am not even sure what the term is, but definitely went into some deep detail when describing the foundations Harry will lay for his future settlement here in this chapter on Skagos, and prob part of the next. I personally enjoyed planning the city out in quite a bit of detail, so for those who will find that part torture, to bad, for those who love that type of stuff come and commiserate with me in the pain of the others. HAHAHAH JK, but still not apologizing for it, however it is skimmable if one wants.

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Chapter 4

Late 167ac

The trip down the Whiteknife, which was a wide river with crystal clear mountain water with fairly boring river banks, took only five days on their ship. During the trip they were greeted with many people waving to them as they passed through the town of Cerwyn, which probably only had a few thousand souls in total. Otherwise the trip had little to see, as there was only the odd small fishing village along the river to Whitehabour. Once they had arrived and found dock space they were immediately greeted again by Lord Manderly's son.

"My lords." the young lord Wendel Manderly said with a smile on his face, likely about their successful raising from commoners to nobles. From what Harry had learnt from Kennet, ravens had been sent to all the lords of the North, as well as a letter informing the crown of their change in status. "It is good to see you return successful. Are you going to have time to visit with my father again?" Wendel asked them as they disembarked from their vessel followed by a few sailors carrying some wooden boxes.

"Just for a short visit, lord Wendel." Harry said in greeting as they finally made it on the dock. Thankfully neither Harry nor Sirius had any issues with sea travel as they had heard some horror stories of those getting terrible bouts of seas sickness. "We wanted to give some gifts to your father for his help with the introduction to Lord Stark." Harry said indication the boxes that sailors had unloaded for them. "There is a box there for you as well." Harry said with a smile pointing to a box with bottles of vodka that Harry had changed the labels to something simple with just the name on it.

The captain of the ship was already hard at work directing the crew to unload what they were delivering from Winter town to Whitehabour and grabbing the supplies they had arranged for their initial voyage to Skagos.

"Well I can have a few men bring create along and we can go and see my father now, if you would like?" Wendel answered clearly a bit excited to see what they had brought. "I believe my father is not occupied with anything serious at the moment." Wendel finished much to Sirius's delight.

"Well I would expect not, I am standing right here." Sirius said making the first pun on his name in some time actually. It brought a smile to Harry's face and a bit of confusion to Wendel's till he seemed to get the joke and gave a chuckle of amusement. That was about the best Sirius usually got from his terrible name puns.

They made their ways to New Castle the ancestral seat of House Manderly, and it was as impressive as always. Unfortunately it was at the top of a hill like a lot of fortifications, meaning a long walk uphill. Wendel led them right into the heart of the fortress with a few guards trailing with their five crates full of goodies.

They had decided to start spreading around a few goods they were planning to in the future to produce and sell from Skagos. That meant a few of the crates where full of booze, Vodka mainly, with some other more expensive varieties. The crates also contained a variety of goods not easily obtained in the north, such as fruits, and silks. Harry had included a nice stack of unbleached paper he had the Elves practice making and a single fountain pen for Lord Manderly's personal use.

Walking into the small audience hall Lord Manderly the senior got up from his chair that he was sitting in, as he had been listening to a few of his advisers, and greeted them warmly. "Lords Potter, and Black, it is great to have you back within these halls!" Lord Manderly exclaimed. It had nearly been eight months at this point since they had last seen the jubilant man. If there was one thing you could say about the Manderly's, it was that they were always happy to greet you and celebrate, as evidenced by them being invited to a night of feasting in their 'honor'.

That night, the tale of Lord Hadrian Potter's unbeatable drinking prowess spread even further as Sirius egged him on with the help of others to accepts challenge after challenge to drinking competitions. It was really quite hilarious seeing massive beasts of men utterly confused and disoriented as they lost soundly to him each time. Not to say that Harry was small in stature at all, the constant blacksmithing and sword practice had built up his muscles even further than the magic had already done when he had performed his rituals.

In the morning after farewells, they loaded onto their ship and started to undertake the fairly long voyage of nearly fifteen days to Skagos. Their destination was the northern bay that Harry had his eye on for their new location to start building a proper home at. Thankfully they were not expecting many people on the island and would be able to build much quicker than what they were confined to during their stay in Winter town.

During the trip Harry was able to perform the ritual he had been planning for Hedwig from before his travels through the portal. It was just one thing after another that delayed him from doing so, and with her staying in the trunk for the entire time he felt little need to perform it till now. Harry was going to let Hedwig roam the island to her heart's content when they finally arrived and therefore he wanted to ensure she had a few more protections.

As many wizards and witches lived beyond 100 years, they had in the past devised a ritual that would allow for them to extend the longevity of their familiars. No one wanted to lose their close companions, so a ritual was designed to double their companions lifespan. This was the ritual he was going to perform, just slightly modified for better results, hopefully. A snowy owl could live for about 25 years in captivity and with Hedwig's connection to his magic she should live to about 75 no problem. With the ritual that should easily double the possible age and as his power continues to increase that number will just keep going up. Even still, with his expected lifespan to be at a minimum of 300 years after his rituals and that was without taking into account the Philosopher's Stone, it came up way short, therefore the modifications he made.

His ritual used phoenix tears and freely given unicorn horn to imbue additional life into the Hedwig. He was going to also use a small amount of the elixir of life along with some modified runes to hopefully give Hedwig at least a one time chance at rebirth similar to that of a Phoenix's burning day. Optimistically this would allow her to perform a 'resurrection' once every time she gained her adult form. However if she were to die again in her youth she would not go through a rebirth again. The reason for this was because the power for her rebirth would have to build up as she matured to adulthood, this was because she was not a true Phoenix. The ritual would help to remove his anxiety of losing his first real friend and leave him to concentrate on other pressing matters like their imminent arrival.

The island was huge and took them an entire day just to make it to the northern side after it had come into view. It was also extremely mountainous with huge towering peaks covered in forests that led to the center of the island, and tapered off near the coast giving some small amount of flat land for farming and other uses. If Harry had to guess he would say about 85% of the island was taken up mountains, and that could have been higher had it not been for the decently size plateau in the north, just beside where they were thinking to build.

After their ship had reached the mouth of the bay, which was just over twenty miles wide and went inland nearly 60 miles, they had their ship lay anchor so that Sirius and he could go ashore with a small boat to scout out the area. The captain of the ship was fairly used to their habit of going alone, and quickly had a boat prepared for them, which they rowed to shore. Once on the shore the only evidence Harry could see for any human civilization was the few mostly destroyed stone and wood huts that seemed to have been used for fishing, and livestock containment.

Deciding to use an overpowered homo-revelio, as he had done in the past when they first arrived in Westeros, Harry was able to determine that there was only six people still living on the island. It seemed that the attack by the Ironborn was even worse than Lord Stark or anyone else had guessed. The group of people also seemed to be deep in the mountains on the south side of the island. He quickly decided to leave them alone for now, as there was little he could do without setting up first. Also the native population of the island had a bad reputation amongst others in the North for being unwelcoming, so they may be best left alone for now regardless.

"Sirius, there is almost no one here." he said to the man who was looking around the island. They had heard that there was a type of unicorn here on the island, and Sirius was pretty interested to see if it was anything like the ones back home. If they were then they could have a good source for wand materials if they were needed. "I think the damage from the Ironborn was far worse than even the Northern lords expects. I imagine when this gets out even more discontent will be directed south towards the Iron Throne, even though most in the North disliked the inhabitants of these islands." he said pondering the issue a bit.

"Ha, look at you pup, already thinking about the politics." Sirius said with a chirp of laughter which turned in cackles at the look of utter shock on Harry's face. His shock at the fact Sirius was right reduced quite a bit and became raw determination when he realized that yes, in the future he would need to play the part of a politician when needed for his lands to prosper. Otherwise he would be failing himself and those that may rely on him to make informed and good decisions. "Well if you got the information you needed, we may as well get back to the ship and choose our final location." Sirius said as he made his way back to their small row boat.

Harry grabbed the oars and started rowing, something he did not mind, as his body allowed him to destroy the distance to the ship like an Olympic rowing team. Once aboard they directed the captain to take the ship deeper into the bay. Some day they were going to need to name the bay before some idiot gave it a name like 'the womb of Skagos' Harry thought with a scoff as they started to make their way inland. This bay was going to be nearly perfect for them to situate their new home at, as it provided cover from turbulent waters, and tropical storms as they would start to break at the mouth of the bay and be far weaker by the time they reached the end. It provided a deep harbour access and ample geographical protections.

With the deep and long bay cutting into the mountains, it made an attack via land from the rear nearly impossible, and with a few fortresses and water defenses attacking via the water or front was not going to be a good choice either. To top it all off, the majority of the flat and more fertile land in the area was just to each side of the bay, leaving the deeper section ripe for building their fortress and settlement. They could even possible raise a medium size island in the center of the mouth of the bay to erect a huge lighthouse on to prevent anyone from attempting to attack via the water at night.

Harry made all these observations as their ship slowly made its way in. Thankfully the water here was still warm enough that the bay was not at all frozen over, and he was almost certain it would stay that way even during the winter. The more he looked around the more excited he got, as he pictured what they could build here. Towering walls to protect the start of their city on each side of the bay and cut off the end by continuing into the water a bit protecting whatever harbour they build and the city it serviced. A massive fortress in the back to house his manor and whatever industries he wanted to personally control would be visible to all who entered by the bay.

It was a shame that no one had bothered to truly try and build up the island, as the past inhabitants lived in caves and basic huts of all things. A shame, but certainly to his advantage and somewhat understandable to those without magic. However before anything there was much he needed to plan, build, and get ready before people started moving here for a better chance at life.

Thankfully the lack of people left on the island would allow for them to easily make changes without anyone really noticing too much. The only people that may see some of the extreme changes were their crew on the ship, however they were under magical contracts that would dissuade them from sharing what they learnt. When they arrived at the end of the bay they could see a nice stretch of about ten miles of land followed by the towering mountains that made up most of Skagos.

"Harry it may be a bit cold here, but damn if the view is not worth it." Sirius said as the anchor for the ship was lowered and they sat there looking at the landscape of what was to become their new home. "I am proud of you pup." Sirius said which had Harry looking at him questionably. "Look how far you have come in just two short years, and I know your parents would be proud too." Sirius said putting his hand on his shoulder. Harry didn't often get true compliments like that, so it made him feel great inside. Turning back to the island he started speaking.

"There will be a lot of work to do Sirius, I will understand if you will want some breaks sometimes, just make sure you let me know. You know how much I can get sucked into my work." Harry said alluding to his spree of smiting that had gone on during their stay in Qohor where he had even utilized the Time Turner to get in a few extra hours. "But I am really excited about this. Excited like I haven't been about anything else in a long while. It is almost like the first time I got to go to Hogwarts all over again, except I have more control over my future this time around." Harry tried to explain to his godfather as his excitement bled through into his voice.

"I know pup, and we will do this properly and show the whole world how awesome House Potter and Black are!" Sirius said using his usual charm to break the somewhat serious and somber mood. "Right let's get this boat unloaded and then we can set up a camp and start to get to work. I imagine these gents would not mind getting underway sailing back to Whitehabour." he finished as they got working on just that.

The unloading of the boat reminded Harry a lot about why shipping containers had been invented, as it was an operation to manually unload the boat by hand only with the help of simple pulley systems. Unfortunately there was little chance of him being able to copy that feat anytime in the next few decades, even on a smaller scale. Once the ship was unloaded they had the captain sailing back to Whitehabour for another load of materials. While sure they were not going to hide all their magic, there were certainly not going to do it out in the open, that could cause major issues. Especially if someone from down south got word before they were established to some degree, and too difficult to oust.

Once they were at their campsite Harry immediately started to perform some of the magics he had been practicing over the past two years. Mainly he started to cast spells to get the lay of the land, and do what basically amounted to a detailed geological survey of the island. Powering the spell to that degree left Harry feeling more than just momentarily drained. He even stumbled and had to be held for a moment by Sirius, who raised his eyebrow in concern, and promptly shoved Harry into a chair he just conjured. However the major headache as the information rushed into his mind palace and the short feeling of weakness was well worth it, as he now had a much better idea of the resources they had to work with.

The island was a treasure trove of minerals, rocks, and ores, though not literally as there was only a few silver and gem mines and little gold to speak of. At least nothing to warrant a mine dedicated to it. However what they did have an abundance of was iron and coal, they may as well have named this island chain Iron Islands 2.0, with how much iron was in the mountains surrounding their beautiful bay. Honestly Harry was still shocked at how perfect of a natural site it was for a city defended against almost all points off entry. Sure the area was a bit rocky, but that was nothing a good spell and ward system could not help with. With a general outline of the island now in his head he was ready to start to get to work.

"Sirius I know you are not much for the planning, and building the same as I am, so do you want to use your animal form and possibly search out the so called Unicorns that you have been interested in?" Harry asked the man as he got some of this thoughts in order. "I was hoping that we could start capturing them to start a herd. Even if they are not truly magical, they must thrive here and could possibly be another source of income." he said explaining his reasoning. "If you want you could even check in with the six people that are living in the mountains to the south."

"What are you going to be up to pup while I am searching for our pointed friends, and cavepeople?" Sirius asked.

"Well first I think I need to do some major detailed surveying and then start directing the Elves on what to do. I would like to get them to start flattening the area, but I have a few tasks for them first." he said thinking about how he wanted to have them plant a nice sized forest of Weirwood trees in the centre of the island to power a wardstone he had planned to use to span the entire island and the small surrounding ones. "But basically putting the starting touches on a lot of the things we have discussed." Harry said alluding to their planning sessions they had undergone during their various travels.

"Alright then I am in need of a good stretch of the old dog legs anyways, and I know as well as you, that I probably would just be getting in the way here with all that construction nonsense." Sirius said as he looked around their campsite. They had only setup a tent for them and their materials, as they were going to be using his manor trunk most of the time. Though he did get Larim and Melisandre out, and showed them around their landing site, and new home. To say they were not impressed with the temperature was an understatement, though Harry did say that he was going to see about improving on that issue as soon as the Weirwood trees were planted.

With that in mind and Hedwig out and about marking her territory on the island, Harry took to the air on his broom to scout out the ideal location for his Weirwood forest. His mineral survey had given him a good idea where to go, as there was only a few criteria needed to work, and that was it had to be fairly central on the island and somewhere trees could grow. That basically meant he was going to have to use a nice valley in the mountains somewhere. It did not take long to find the ideal one from the air and from there it was as simple as directing the Elves on what he wanted and installing the wardstone.

For his island chain wide wardstone Harry was using his knowledge of magic from a ton of different sources. In fact the only reason he could even use a wardstone like this on such a wide scale, was that magic recognized that he 'owned' the land and water he was going to being placing under magic. This made a lot of sense if one thought about it, as otherwise there would have been wards similar to Hogwarts all over the place back on Earth, but really there were only wards that protected someone's personal property. Even in the case of the ministry, their wards only covered the small area their building contained. Even their detection grid was a collection of magical detectors all cobbled together rather than some grand warding array over the British Isles.

Due to the size of the warded area, it also limited what could be put onto the wardstone, because if the effect was too powerful it would take too much power to spread it across such a large area. Therefor he had to select carefully what to put on the central wardstone. The first thing he installed was a ward to moderate the temperature in the region to a far more livable standard. It was a bit funny that Skagos, which had some of its land above the longitude of the Wall, would have a similar temperature to that of around the neck, but it was an important change to make as it would blunt much of the harshness of the northern winters. It also ensured tropical storms never reached dangerous levels.

He also installed a widespread fertility ward that he had learnt from a few of the Celtic and Mediterranean books he had been reading, and combined their effects to stretch across more than a single group, such as animals or plants. This would mean crops would grow faster and healthier, animals would have less issues breeding and would live to be healthier and larger. Humans would not face as many fertility issues and children would have a better chance of making it to adulthood. He also put a ward to prevent any form of magical scrying, as he had heard some stories about the magic available to magic users in Essos. However it was the final three ward schemes that he was most proud of, as each, while borrowed much from other sources, were almost entirely on his own design.

The first was geological ward that would break down the top layer of rock around the island and change it into fertile ground that can be used for growing plants. Even with the previous fertility ward, if there was no good dirt to grow in, plants would struggle to survive or even take root. It also had the effect of lessening some of the harshness that was found in the craggy and rocky landscape of Skagos' shores.

The second was what he was calling a loyalty ward, but really all it did was give the person a reason to not betray him. It didn't really make people loyal, and those determined enough could easily overcome the effects, however it would reduce those actively working against him in the future. He needed to think long term as any mistakes made now by someone trying to stop their rise could have drastic effects in the distant future.

The third and last was the most impressive and basically a continuation of the Marauder's legacy. He, with the help of Sirius, had worked out an improved version of the Marauder's map to tie into the central wardstone. Like the Marauder's map, it would track the name and place of every person within their territory. Unlike the map it would also categorize the people into three groups, green meaning the are normal residents or guests, yellow meaning they are people performing a task or action that may be working against him or residents of the island, such as spying, and finally red meaning they were actively working to undermine or attack people in the warded area.

This ward was setup in a way like the Book of Students at Hogwarts and was integrated into the map, giving a list on demand of everyone who fell into either the red or yellow categories for Harry's or Sirius' perusal. He expected as they started to prosper and make names for themselves, that they would have many spies being sent here to learn their secrets, or to just keep an eye on them. There was little way to outright prevent them from coming, but he could make it more difficult for them to work and ensure they did not observe anything critical, such as their use of magic; at least not yet. Any more powerful effects would need to be done with smaller local wards.

The wardstone would slowly gain power till it was at full strength and then activate. Which meant it was basically going to rely on the Weirwood trees to power it as there was no leylines nearby. However as the location of choice only had a few of the trees in question, more needed to be planted and grown to maturity quickly. Therefore as he stayed to install the wardstone, he watched House Elves rip existing trees that did not fill their criteria out of the ground before planting a Weirwood saplings. Then another Elf would come along and pour a growth potion on the baby tree and provide additional fertilizing elixirs.

One key reasons this was even practical was that Harry had been able to snag the Cauldron of Plenty from within the Department of Mysteries before he had left. While it certainly did not provide unlimited of something that was poured into it, in fact it only worked with elixirs or potions, and would only provide hundred times the original amount. There was no cheating too, as somehow the Cauldron could tell if the potion had already been multiplied, therefore no infinite loops. What that did mean is the few potions they used regularly on large basis were often sent through the Cauldron first, in this case the vegetation growth potions, and fertilizer elixirs.

When the Elves finished planting trees here he was going to have them plants more Weirwoods, groves of Ironwood trees, properly spaced out nuts and fruit trees, and potatoes to take advantage of the soon to be ideal soil conditions. Sure there would be no citrus or more delicate fruits, but apples, hardier plums, and even possibly a few breeds of grapes could be grown on their island when the temperature ward activates. These would all add to the stability of the soil, create possible additional revenues streams, and provide a good source of food for the island.

Laying the wardstone only took Harry a few hours because he had it carved with all the runes already, as he had been working on the concept on and off for almost a year now. He expected it would take about two days for the Weirwood trees to reach maturity under the diligent care of the Elves. From there it should take less than a month for the wardstone to activate after the initial powering phase. The effects would start to take place almost immediately then and he would have official magical claim on the land as he had used some of his blood to bind the wards to himself.

With that set, Harry Apparated back to their temporary campsite, happy that he did not have to be cautious about anyone seeing or hearing him use magic. He first needed to make a cover illusion for their 'builders' which were actually just going to be Elves. So he went about casting some illusion spells a bit farther away from the bay towards the mountains, this was to prevent the sailors who would be unloading things again in the future from coming close to the site.

Harry's ability with illusions was improving greatly with all the practice he had gotten with modifying the wards over their manor in Winter town. The fact he had to do it everyday because of the attention their project had gotten, while annoying, was good practice. This meant throwing up a couple hundred tents as an illusion was not too difficult a task for him. Harry didn't think the sailors would question where the crews came from, as they had to have heard about his foreign and experienced builders he had under contract.

With that settled, and the Elves off happily planting vegetation throughout the island, Harry finally got around to doing an detailed survey of the bay area. To do so semi-quickly required him to use a few different magics combined together. The first being a simple survey spell that transitioned anything you saw onto a parchment, all to correct and defined scale, some more advanced ones included the ability to change the scale on demand, almost like a zoom, which his did.

Therefore Harry took off on his broom with a scroll of parchment floating behind him from a Wingardium Leviosa charm as he continually channeled the survey spell he required over the land. The whole process was slow going as he could only go so high and took nearly eight hours to have the entire bay surveyed onto his scrolling parchment. Thankfully it didn't require rolls and rolls of parchment and all fit tidily in a single large folded sheet, similarly to the Marauder's Map. Just this survey would have taken mundanes almost a year to do and he did it in a day, and that just reinforced his love for magic.

With that done he took out his communication mirror and talked to Sirius about his progress. Apparently he had found no 'Unicorns' yet and had only found some mountain goats and cats, along with the usual fare found in Northern Forests, such as rabbits. Though apparently he was taking his time as he made his way to the south side of the island where the 'cavepeople' supposedly were. Even as a dog it was going to take him a few weeks to make the trek, and that was if he was moving quickly. Though Sirius may take to the air on his broom, Harry left it to the man as this was really one of the first times that they had been separated from each other for more than a night since arriving on this planet.

Harry didn't want to come off as controlling, as that was what he hated in some people back on Earth. But Sirius often let him take control of situations and was more than happy fallowing along, far more than if Sirius was to lead or make the decisions for both of them. Apparently this had something to do with his years at school where he almost got one of his friend seriously hurt by doing something stupid, and it was only Harry's dad who had stopped it before it could happen. Now he prefers to follow a Potter's lead, as he did all those years ago, or so that was what Sirius told him.

With an hours rest out of the way he started giving Dobby directions, as Dobby would be leading the Elves in the giant construction project they were going to be undertaking. Part of the problem was Harry really needed to plan with the future in mind, and that meant building far more infrastructure now, rather than facing the difficulties and costs later. It didn't hurt that it was just easier to have the Elves do it and have it in place before having people move in, rather than trying to add to it when it was needed.

Harry also didn't try and delude himself in thinking that it would just be him, Sirius, and few smallfolk living in the area. No, he was going to do this properly and with that he was going to have thousands of people moving here for better opportunities. This also meant that he was going to have to search out people to bring to the island in the beginning as it was becoming established and successful enough to entice people on its own.

With that in mind, he got the Elves to level much of the land in the area while transporting the extra soil and rock out into the middle of the bay mouth. He planned to build an artificial island there and put a massive fortified lighthouse to defend the the bay and act as a early warning system to any attacks coming by sea, day or night. The actual building will come a bit later but the island would need to be in place before too many people came and started asking questions he would prefer to avoid, like where did that island appear from? He was not ready for the faith to come crashing down on him in their zeal, to kill the 'demon'.

His plans for the area were to have two major sets of walls. The first set being the walls the would separate his own private area from the rest of the settlement, and would act more as a giant fortress wall. Inside however would have space for another fortified manor, this time more in the Elizabethan era architecture and sporting over a hundred rooms rather than the small manor they built back in Winter town, and have almost all modern amenities, minus electricity. The back of the fortress compound, which was going to three square miles in space, will sport a small rear wall for protection and privacy, before having a road leading into the nearly impassable mountains that capped the end of the bay area.

About ten miles away from the front fortress wall was going to be the second set of walls. They were split on each side of the bay going the entire distance of about five-ten miles from the water to the mountains. They also continued into the water a bit to created a fortified and protected harbour area. This would prevent any land attacks from reaching the settlement and harbour, as well as ward off those from the sea. Finished off with two forts on the water with a large chain that could be raised to close the harbour in case of attack, it would make trying to raid their city difficult to the extreme.

Of course this did mean the overall area inside the walls was going too large for the foreseeable future and far more than needed, but would provide ample room to grow into, as he could remember some of the massive cities they had visited and those on Earth that later ran into this problem. The worst part of going into London was all the undersized roadways and lack of public green space basically anywhere non-royal in the heart of the city. There was a reason all the cabs were tiny, they needed to be able to fit in some stupidly small spaces.

Construction on the walls would commence once a bunch of more important jobs were finished first, however getting the foundations planned out and laid was important. The Elves worked far faster than they had in Winter town and he could see them popping around leveling areas and digging massive trenches before popping away with a loads of dirt floating behind them. The order of the day, no probably month, was infrastructure, infrastructure, and more infrastructure.

First and foremost, as he had learned from King's Landing was to design and implement a proper sewage system. That was not too hard as he had all the tools, and guides from modern Earth to go with, unfortunately he did not have the waste treatment facilities they did. Therefore he turned to his first true love, magic. He had the Elves carve runes into all the main sewage lines that would separate and process the wastes, and then divert the now useful fertilizers to a massive concrete expanded holding site where it could then be used or sold off.

The water that ended up coming out the huge pipes at the end that lead into the bay would basically be fresh, drinkable water, not that he would be drinking it anytime soon. It wasn't that he didn't trust his magic, but more the principle of the thing. This was all to avoid the awful smell that came from the 'Black Water' bay courtesy the shit that gave the bay its name. Another nice added bonus is the whole array would eliminate bad pollutants that sometimes got flushed down the drain and shunted them to a secure storage trunk. This would also allow for a bit more industrial water waste abuse without damaging the environment, coal water is an issue for most societies, even on Earth.

Speaking of water, he was going to take a note from the Romans and had the Elves almost immediately start building three aqueducts that would take fresh water from the mountains surrounding the bay, one in each the east, west, and south to provide fresh water for the entire city through proper plumbing before running into the bay along with the sewage outlets. This would also include bath houses for separate sexes, and unisex, as there would be some who would find the concept of bathing with the same sex scandalous.

He had fountains already planned in his layout that would also be free sources of fresh water throughout the city. However he tried prepared for basically everything, so he even used his now nearly mastered water magic, that he had matured over the last few years, to also increase the pressure on the whole plumbing system by having a capped high pressure, high volume spring that could be tapped into as needed to regulate pressure. This also gave the entire city a backup for their water if for some reason their sources from the mountains become cut off or non-usable.

Harry was super thankful that he had gotten that copper when he had stopped off in Meereen as he had quickly gone through the stuff he had brought from Earth, and while some other materials work great, copper also allows for easy retainment of magic. He would have dreaded having to manually transmute some copper extremely slowly with the Philosopher's Stone. The magical retention ability of copper allowed for a second set of pipes to be tied into just before an outlet to provide both hot and cold water taps to each resident, or location on demand. He was going use an excuse if needed by saying that he had tapped into a clean hot spring to provide the water if anyone asked, but all it really was, was a simple series of heating runes.

At the same time Harry also had his incredible building crew of Elves start with the roadways, as many of these utilities needed to be planned together with the roadways. All roads he was building were going to built using a magically improved concrete that was ideal for roadways. Another benefit of him designing a magical furnace to create the magically improved cement mix was the ability to change its colour. Texture was easy to control as it just mattered what you added to the cement to make your desired concrete.

This was actually something he had learned from Valyrian mages and their magic. In fact their smooth buildings made with their 'cement' were still present today in Essos in some places, and even Dragonstone centuries after their fall. It was an amazing process they used, but he had made it better, and basically automated it, with just needing someone to add the materials into the furnace and remove the cement. The cement made any materials is was mixed with nearly impossible to destroy without the help of magic after it had been set. That basically prevented it from wearing away, making it ideal for longevity. That being said he had still mostly used regular high quality volcanic concrete in Winter town and area.

What this did mean is, that he had an amazing, multipurpose, multicolored, and moldable stone material to use throughout his building projects. It was going to also make his walls far easier to put up and allow the Elves a bit of freedom to make things look better, even though it was all made from the same material. Harry had been stockpiling the cement for months now once since he had finished making the new furnace back in Winter town. With the help of magic, and his concrete, the Elves were able to literally pour roadways down and be followed quickly by another that would finish the concrete into the desired pattern before it set.

Every road in his 'city' was going to have a sidewalk for pedestrians, proper drainage, and a good shoulder for 'parking' and for snow to be piled during the winter to clear the streets. Even if he had raised the temperature in the area, it was still going to be cold enough all winter long to snow, and Merlin did it snow a lot in this region of the world. Therefore the shoulders would be heated by runes and slowly melt the snow which would pass into the sewage system.

He had a large central avenue that was three lanes wide each side go from where he planned to be the harbour all the way straight to the main gates to his fortress compound. It would continue all the way into his fortress compound where the road would split into a traffic circle like turn around to funnel traffic around in an orderly manner to the loading and unloading area and back out the main gate. This also had a smaller two lane road connector that would lead out the back of the compound's rear to the mountains, and any mines they will set up.

The rest of the city had standard traffic grids setup so that traffic could flow well with ample room to move around. He never wanted traffic to be a problem to the levels of the horror stories he had read about in ancient Rome, and was part of the reason he wanted such a well designed road system. Not to mention with a flat semi-smooth concrete so the clack clack of wooden carriage wheels over cobblestones would not be driving anyone nuts and causing the Emperor to ban their use during certain times.

There was also a public spaces situated in and around the roadways, with green space, gardens, micro-forest, benches, and sometimes small public forums. Harry definitely did not want the city to be devoid of green space, so he dedicated about 1/6 of the city exclusively to such use. However besides the roads and other infrastructure, only enough improvements for a small town were built for now, even if it was at the scale of a small city's needs. It would slowly be expanded as needed, as all the space was already zoned into industrial, commercial and residential areas.

All that left were public, and functional buildings he felt they needed. Most of those would be close to the first wall and almost act as an additional barrier between some of the commercial zone and his compound. He had plans to include a large health clinic, library, minor government buildings, a bank, employment office, orphanage, primary school, trades school, court house, and a massive event and audience centre. Some of those would be saved till more people had immigrated, or just have a smaller more temporary building setup for now.

One of the important public areas not in the heart of the settlement was the solids waste management centre. Harry had set it up to use magic to sort garbage into compost, recycling, and what needed to be incinerated, but Dobby had complained that doing so would take away an great source of work for the Elves. So when they were not busy they would operate the facility and process the recycled materials for reuse. Suffice to say the facility would need to be built a bit of a distance away from the city, even if he put up a few discrete wards to prevent too much smell leakage.

Harry had a blast planning out things, and ended up going a bit overboard as he was informed of when Sirius listened into his plans, and what progress he and the Elves had made through the mirror. "Pup have you done anything other than planning and helping the House Elves since I left nearly fifteen days ago?" Sirius asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Ah, no..." Harry said not really sure where the time had gone, and he had definitely slept a few times, but he was not sure it had been fifteen times. No he was sure it had not been fifteen, that probably meant he was growing stronger and now needed even less sleep than before, that was a nice boom. It might even be extended more as he continued to gain strength, which was helped along by all the magic he was expending working with the Elves on some of the more difficult tasks.

It was just so exciting planning for what could be an amazing future here. Sure there was tons still to go and do, but this was a great foundation for their future and the Elves would be able to work steadily with his plans. Dobby was also getting better and better as a construction manager and could take on even more responsibilities.

Harry was going for an overall different approach than most lords did. He was going to keep ownership of all of his city, and each building, or plot would be rented out to people based on either a short or long term contract. This way he would retain a bit more control on what was built and where without going through the huge hassle of setting up proper bylaws to do so. It also meant the styling of buildings was up to him and he decided to continue in the vein of 15th to 18th century Western European architecture.

It was going to be the best city in all of Westeros, certainly not the biggest, but it would outshine any other. Though that did mean it would require people, and reasons for them to stay. And a name. He felt he sucked at naming things, and was fairly certain it was a genetic trait of wizards. Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, to just name a few pieces of evidence towards his theory.

However in the fifteen days almost all of the underground water works were finished and work on the roads was continuing steadily. Harry had to also take a trip into the mountains to mark off where some sources of iron, coal, and other mineral deposits so that Elves could start on the road heading into the mountains. What this did do was leave Harry with time to place the wardstone for the city which was going to go into the basement of his manor.

It was not going to be anything super fancy, just basic area wards a lot of magicals had included in their own cities. One was to actively prevent pests, such as bugs and rats from setting up shop, and another to prevent the spreading of plagues usually carried by those pests. Finally it would slowly clean the air of bad smells and pollution that almost any city produced. Harry could not have air purifying runes on every source of pollution in the city, as he planned for the incinerators in the waste management facility.

Unfortunately he was not able to place a blanket fire ward across the city, as that would prevent the normal use of things like a stove, or furnace from operating properly. So he had to have a few fire halls set up throughout the city with hoses that they would carry and attach to fire hydrants he had pressurized with the city's water supply. For now he was going to have the Elves man the facilities, but hopefully it will become a good career path for future residents to take.

The last and final touch he wanted to have done before their trade ship returned with some more supplies was to have a dozen homes built for people to start living in if they needed. Work had also started on raising the first set of walls and building the manor up from its foundations. Part of the reason there was so much room inside the first set of walls and away from prying eyes, was so that he could build up certain industries without anyone knowing, or finding out their secrets.

This also meant that he could use magic to facilitate some of the processes and people would be none the wiser, as they would just assume that it was a trade secret. It also gave him ample space for his own industries and an excuse for his wealth that was not really being taxed. It was one of the stupid loopholes in the tax system, in that he only sent on a portion of tax he collected, and he does not collect tax from himself. So stupid, but it was still incredibly primitive and working much to his favour. Though he was going to also give the Starks a discount on good purchased from them sometime in the future as a gesture to strengthen their bonds.

Sirius had said it was a time honored Black family tradition to pay as little as tax as possible, and Harry needed to uphold those traditions seeings he was the heir to the Black family as well. At least Harry was only going to utilize legal loopholes and not illegal offshore tax havens and under reporting profits as Sirius's family usually did.

Harry was musing over his tax evading future when he heard a horn blare which was the signal from the trade ship that it had returned. Harry could not believe it, it had already been almost a month since they had arrived and it just felt like yesterday, but he looked around at the various roadways, avenues, buildings, and the walls to his compound going up, he imagined it must have seemed like a dream to the sailors. Who were probably thinking that they had only been gone for a month and look at how much the place had changed.

A boat came from the ship and started to make its way to Harry's now more permanent, but still temporary residence, which was a large stone house that would be available in the future for someone more wealthy than the average small folk to rent. Harry saw Captain Luco, their most trusted trade captain coming ashore on the little dingy. Harry could see the man's face in shock as he looked around at the start of a small town, and the Elves under charms to make their work look more mundane, rather than the reality of things floating around.

"My lord the progress it is incredible. These are more of those workers you have organized and trained?" Luco said pointing towards all the completed roads and the few Elves that were visible. "I thought I would arrive back before any other people arrived." he said looking around.

"Yes that is them, and they impress me everyday with their talent and daily improvement in their art." Harry said honestly about the Elves under illusion. "A few boats that were hired, dropped them off and a large load of materials that we have been using." Harry said explaining their presence to the astute man. Harry expected that he thought there was something odd about him and Sirius, but he doubted the man thought they were magical.

"That is good to see the progress, and I imagine some of the sailors will be equally happy." Luco said looking around once again and seeing the quality of everything built. Harry could easily see he was impressed and Harry's skill in Legilimency had come to such a point that he now usually caught unguarded or projected thoughts of people without even trying. Meaning he understood what he meant even before he asked his next question. "Is the offer for the sailors to settle down permanently here with their families still open, my lord?" Luco asked, his expression a bit guarded again as was usual for a merchant captain.

"Yes, of course. In fact that is along the lines of what I wanted to talk to you about. So why don't you join me inside my temporary residence and we shall discuss it over a cup of tea, I was just about to have one when I heard your horn." Harry said as he indicated the man to his stone house.

"That would be wonderful, my lord." Luco responded with a smile as he heard about the offer still being available and about the invitation. "It has been many months since I have been able to taste some tea."

When they finally made it inside, after Harry enjoyed watching the looks of amazement and shock come over Luco's face at the quality, design, and functionality of the various things in and outside the house. It was quite nice to see someone appreciate his, and the Elves hard work, as Sirius was still running around in the forests enjoying his time as a dog. Apparently he wanted to make the entire run over the island in his dog form and refused to fly. However it should be anytime now before he finally arrives at the cave people's dwelling.

He had also finally found a small herd of the 'Unicorns' unfortunately they were more of a bastardization of a pony and mountain goat crossbreed with a pointed horn, than the majestic beast of Earth. Apparently Sirius didn't think they were magical either, but Harry would go sometime in the future to look with his better magical senses.

"My lord this house, you said is your temporary residence? What will happen to it after you move into your manor I can see being built up a ways?" Luco asked having finally taken a sip of his tea after he could tear his eyes away from inspecting the home. Harry had used more a modern design for some of the apparel inside the house so it must have come as a bit of a shock for the man who as used to more simple, and primitive abodes. Imagine just the sink alone, with a facet with two handles, one for hot and cold, would look like to someone who hadn't seen something like it before.

"It will be available for someone to rent and live in." he said to the man who seemed to be enjoying his tea. "It will cost more than the average person could make, but someone like yourself, as a successful merchant captain, would most likely be able to afford to live in a house like this one." he finished after having a quick think over what the rates of renting this house would be. Sure it would take most of Luco's wages he earned from them but he could live there. More likely though if Luco finally went and saved to purchase his own ship and then continued working for them he would be able to more easily afford it. So Harry told him so, and the man smiled at his honesty, and the open offer to improve his station by purchasing his own means.

"Luco I imagine you are aware of the lack of people in general here in the North?" he asked the man and got a confused nod. "The problem is more difficult to fix than one would imagine, as where would one find more people to settle here. I have been racking my mind, as besides those from the slums, or wanting a new start on life, there are few other sources." he said explaining the problem he had at hand. "While there will be a slow trickle of those types of people coming here for some time in the future, I will need more people quickly, and that is were you and a few of your other fellow captains come in." Harry finished while looking at the man seriously, as he would be asking him a lot.

"My lord, I am not quite sure what we can do to help." Luco said a bit confused but nonetheless took another sip of his tea.

"Well you must be aware by this time about my hatred for slavery." he said while frowning a bit. "Unfortunately it seems to be a large fact of life for many of those in Essos outside of Braavos. Along that vein I would like you, and others like you, to go about purchasing with my money educated, skilled, and talented slaves, from one of the three sisters and then offer them their freedom." he said speeding up slightly at the end to cut off the raising anger he could see in Luco's face at the idea of him buying slaves. "Give them their freedom, and then you can offer them voyage to either Braavos, or here to where they can have a chance at a good future. Either way I would say it is a win, however the problem lies in the fact that such a system could be abused if I offered to pay someone do it. Therefore it will only be assigned to salaried captains."

Harry was fairly cognizant of the issues that may arise from this operation, and he may even see that the majority choose to not come to his lands, but he was hopeful, as life in Braavos might come with freedom, but it certainly was not cheap. He was going to give a letter to Luco to hand to the Iron Bank so that they would hire more reliable captains to help facilitate his plan on slightly a larger scale. Thankfully the Iron Bank offered business and investment services like this to their account holders, for a fee of course; but said fee was extremely reasonable as those services were only available to account holders.

"My Lord, I am not entirely sure of this plan." Luco said showing some of his reservation.

"I know where you are coming from, the fact would be that we would still be buying slaves, even if it was to set them free." Harry said with distaste in his mouth at the idea. "However neither of us are in a position to change the world and stop slavery outright. Therefor we have to work in the system we have and in this case that means paying a bit of gold to purchase some slave's freedom and offer them a great place to start their new life as a freeman." Harry said a bit passionately, because he truly felt it would make a difference for some, albeit a small number, but a difference nonetheless.

"I think I can see that, it will be difficult to convince the crew." Luco said and he trailed off a bit at the end thinking about the situation. "I don't think any of them will find issue once it is explained to them like you did to me. In fact I think a few would see it as a bit of a honorable duty to undertake." Luco said as he himself got a bit more excited about the prospect.

"Now I said to target talented individuals, but really I will take anyone healthy that you think would want to come. Even children without other family members, as I will be setting up an proper orphanage for orphans to allow them a good life and with opportunities. My parents died when I was a baby and I would like others to avoid some of the hardships I went through during my childhood as a result." he said to Luco giving the man a bit more information on himself. He imagined it would be spread throughout Luco's ship come morning. The magic in their employment contract certainly made a distinction between information like that and a real secret, even if Luco himself didn't know.

Luco face went through a few emotions over a brief span as he thought about what Harry had said. "My lord, I won't sugar coat it, I don't like it." Luco said before giving a dramatic pause. "But I don't disagree with your reasoning, and I believe me and the boys would not mind playing a role in seeing some individuals free of their bonds." the man said as he seemed to have warmed to the idea.

"Here is a letter for the Iron Banks I would like you to drop off when you take your crew for a weeks break before heading down to one of the Three Sisters." Harry said handing over the letter he had written for the Iron Bank asking for them to source him ten more ships and their crews, and send them up this way to Skagos. Hopefully he will have a good influx of people coming in a few months time after he has the crews sign their employment contracts, and more ships crewed and ready for when the time comes to start trading with others. "It also authorizes them to withdraw some funds to refill your ship's coffers when needed." he finished.

"Thank you my Lord." Luco said with a bow as he accepted the letter and started to leave. Just as he was leaving Harry felt the central ward stone activate and the wards snap into existence as it was finally charged. A wave of magic swept quickly by and established itself over Skagos and its fellow islands. The only discernible difference without seeing or feeling the magic was a warm breeze that seemed to sweep through the area. "Looks like the weather is improving my lord. I better leave before it decides to change back or make a storm." Luco said as he quickly took off for the skiff.

Harry was excited about the wards finally being up and what that would mean for the island. Harry was about to pull out his mirror to see what progress Sirius was making as he should have been back soon, if not already, but his own mirror started to ring. Answering it he saw Sirius's face.

"Pup was that the wards going up? I have never felt a wave of magic like it before." Sirius said excitedly if not a bit worried as well.

"Yes I was just talking to Luco when they activated." he replied before asking his own questions. "How was your trip, are you almost done?"

"Yup, just spent three days in my dog form observing those people. It seems like they may be a rural family that may not even know the rest of the island was wiped out." Sirius started as the man looked up as if remembering his observations. "They were living pretty basically Harry, and I am not sure if they would even like joining into a more civilized society."

"That may be, but before winter we definitely need to contact them and offer them a place here in our new settlement." Harry said as he was reminded of something. "That reminds me, we both need to choose our house sigils and words and send them off to Kennet. He said we would only have a years leeway and it's already been eight months since our raising to lords." he explained, as he himself thought the issue over. He was not sure what he wanted his sigil to be, but was fairly set on the white on blacks colors. "On top of that we need to come up with a name for our new budding town." Harry said hoping Sirius had some good ideas.

"Well I will be returning via Apparition sometime tonight, I wanted to observe the group for a bit more as they seemed to be heading out on a hunt soon, and I wouldn't mind seeing that." Sirius replied as he looked a bit excited about seeing the cave people hunt. Honestly Sirius seemed to have a few weird hobbies, but what could one say about a man that spent a decade in Azkaban.

"Alright I will see you then, but be careful and don't catch a stray arrow." he joked to his godfather, and hung up their mirror call. Harry looked around their budding town and back towards the rising walls that would soon secure his manor from all sorts of prying eyes. Naming was always hard, so Harry ignored it for now and watched the small boat with Luco on it make its way back to the ship at anchor. Then Harry smacked his forehead as he realized that he had forgotten to start on the harbour for his new city, as he would need it fairly soon.

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A/N: If you did not catch it I would not mind some suggestions on names for some of the things mentioned in the story so far but here they are in list form:

The Bay

The Bay Area

The City

His Fortress/Compound/Manor

The collections of islands that Skagos is included in (i think there are six).

House words

Harry Sigil

Sirius's Sigil

If you got any ideas or comments leave a review or send me a message. Thanks for those who have reviewed and those who will for this chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I tried to reply to at least all the messages I received with suggestions, but I know there were some I missed. So to those people and the many reviewers, THANK YOU for all the suggestions for names and sigils as it was helpful and honestly I was surprised so many people wanted Asgard or Arthurian names which is the two I have chosen to borrow from mostly. To those who asked questions and/or made comments thank you as well. Honestly blown away by the responses for names, I may do that in the future again as it seemed a wonderful way to gauge what names people would like and to dredge up some fairly unique suggestions and engage with my readers more.

C/N: So I told myself that I wouldn't sit on stuff just cause I didn't think it was all I wanted in a chapter, so here is the next chapter, it is a bit shorter than I wanted but I didn't want to keep it lying around waiting for me to finish the next half. That being said I probably won't have a chapter out for this story till sometime next month, as there has been additional complications in my life.

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 **Chapter 5**

 **168ac**

There was one thing Harry had neglected in his pursuit of amazing infrastructure, and that was the harbour. He had set everything up for it, but had forgotten to get the elves to actually start building the docks. Watching Luco use his dingy was a wakeup call to Harry as he needed to accept ships, and soon too. Even though his rate of building was stupidly quick due to the Elves, he was going to need to make the tent city of builders at least 1000 in number to 'account' for the additional need for imaginary builders. There was also a limit on how long he could utilize them at this rate, as when people start arriving he will have to ensure they slow down significantly.

His harbor for now was going to include dozens of warehouses, ten docks for large ships and fifty for smaller local vessels, like fishing would take the Elves about a month to finish as they were going to also work on the bay end to deepen it to allow for ships with larger displacements. It would be constantly and slowly expanded in future to something that could accept and service over a hundred of large vessels. Thankfully the next generation of Elves was already working as young adults and teens looking for something to do. It truly shocked Harry how quickly their race seemed to multiply. There may have been a reason that they were at some time made dependent on wizards, because if they were allowed to just spread in magical area's willy-nily they could have become a real problem quite quickly.

Or his other theory was that the magic they gained from him while using their own made their bodies healthy and sped up their processes. This would also relate a bit to why they like to reproduce like rabbits after working steady hours. He was not sure and it was not his concern, as all new Elves were born bonded to him, and as long as he had enough magic there didn't seem to be a reason to limit their population growth. Especially when Dobby had just told him that Winky was expecting.

He and the Doggy had a little celebration and watched an entire marathon of the Star Trek The Next Generation to celebrate the event. Harry loved the show nearly as much as Dobby, too bad they only got to see the first few seasons of Deep Space Nine before they left, one of Dobby's greatest regrets. Harry would live, but felt the show was only getting its feet under it with what they had to watch. It was one thing that would be dwindling for them as they only had so many new shows or movies to watch that were stored in his magical dampening trunk.

Harry's thoughts were brought back to the present when he heard the telltale crack of a decently well executed Apparition. Harry looked over to see his smiling God Father walking towards him as he looked around a bit shocked at the changes. "Pup, don't you think you went a bit overboard? This is gonna stretch some peoples realms of believability at the rate we are building." Sirius commented as he approached and embraced Harry quickly in a hug. "Good to see you Pup."

"Overboard, maybe a bit, but for the next while there will be few people who will see what this place was like before or how much actual progress we have made. The only people that have seen anything at all are those under our employment contract on Luco's ship and they are not going to be saying much with any details. They may say we are making quick and fast progress at building a new town and manor, but not any details, the contract would ensure that." Harry explained his reasoning and excuse he was going to use if questions were ever asked. What was anyone to say what was here before they came, almost no one, not even the Northern lords ventured to these islands. "It good to see you too Sirius." Harry finished.

Sirius, even from the magical community, was used to how fast information seemed to move in the modern world, but here it was as slow as molasses and often never reached anywhere but the local region. Even spies will take time to start to filtering in, and Harry expected they would not start arriving for a few years at least, and only if they made waves with trading a lot. Still, not many people even knew to spy on them in the first place, as there are no newspapers telling of their joining to the nobility.

Harry showed Sirius around and started to explain the things that he had added to the city. Sirius did not seem to be as worried about anyone finding out about them using magic, not nearly as much as Harry was, so even the few worries Harry had about using too much magic in the city were not dispelled by Sirius who seemed to think he had not gone far enough. Harry really did not want people to rely on their magic for all their needs and hopefully in the future many of the services including hot water could be offered without magic, but for now the technology was not there yet.

They retired to the manor trunk where they sat in the massive artificial hot springs, relaxing and discussing anything that came to mind. That was when Harry told Sirius about his meeting with Luco.

"Harry are not worried about increasing overall demand for slaves with what you are doing?" Sirius asked a fair question.

"Ya, it is one of the things that worries me the most, but I have also thought it through thoroughly as well." Harry said and started to explain his thinking. "With increased demand no matter what, that means the costs of slaves will go up, even if that means more are captured to try and meet the rising demand. I also studied a bit of history about the topic before deciding and there are ample examples of slaves lives improving drastically as their cost went up." Harry said a bit passionately. "I hope more slaves through my efforts will be freed than captured, and result in a rise in the standard of living of most of the other slaves.

"A good example would be the fact that slaves in the US during the transatlantic slave trade era were seen as long term investments into the future and were treated accordingly, even if that was appalling at times. However, at the same time in Haiti, and other Caribbean Islands, slaves were treated as disposable tools for the sugar farms and arrived on the island to be worked to death within a handful of years. Many people forget 90% of slaves during that era went to the Caribbean Islands to fuel their disgusting industry." Harry expounded passionately about the topic and showing his disgust at the same time. "I just hope to make the industry expensive enough that the idea of disposable slaves is a thing of the past, and if that costs me a few million gold dragons to do it, I will. But I still worry some about those who will be ripped away from their homes, the whole industry stinks." He said to his uncle who had lost his usual goofy demeanor and was listening closely.

"Well I can see where you are coming from at least, and don't disagree with your reasoning." Sirius said after a few moments of thinking. "I also think anyone who comes here will end up having a better and longer life than if they lived in their original homes. I think both of us just wish the industry didn't exist, and we can work towards that in the future pup. Remember we got a lot of time to do so." Sirius said breaking the somber mood and turning the discussion in another direction.

Harry did still worry a bit about what he was doing, but decided to shove his fears down and stop seconding guessing himself. It was right then that and elf popped out of nowhere, one that Harry did not recognize of the bat. "Masters, there is a weird ship making it ways down the bay to the harbours we bes working on." The Elf said a bit panicky.

"Thank you for informing us, we will handle it." Harry said to the young elf who bowed and popped away. Getting out of the hot tub Harry summoned their map of the islands from his pouch. It was protected from many things, including water so Harry was not afraid of getting it wet. Folding it open he imbued a bit of magic, which was the pass key as it was keyed to open to either Harry's or Sirius' magical signature and not some barmy passphrase.

The map of the islands started to unfurl and centered on them, showing the bay end where all they saw were their dots concentrated on the trunk and those of some of the Elves working on the construction sites. Zooming out a bit as Sirius got out of the springs and started looking over his shoulder, they saw the culprits at hand. They were all marked as Red Dots and Harry was a bit shocked to say the least. Who in their right mind would already be here to attack them or make trouble. Then it came to him, they were probably pirates, or even another Ironborn raider ship, which would be showing their sure gall to come again so soon. Harry's anger started to rise as he thought about someone coming to destroy all the hard work he had put into their new city.

"Pup calm down." Sirius said as Harry realized he had been shaking the hot springs with his magic in his anger.

"Sorry Sirius, I was just taken off guard that someone would already be coming to undermine us." he said in apology.

"That's alright pup, but we should get ready to receive our unwanted guests with all the hospitality that House Potter and Black can muster for them." Sirius replied with what Harry could only describe as a sinister smirk. Many people forgot what family Sirius came from because he was sorted into Gryffindor, but it was at these moments that Harry was reminded Bellatrix was Sirius' cousin.

It did not take long for both to don their magical armor Harry had made for them before leaving Earth. Over the fairly compact Basilisk armor they wore clothes and then some nice leather armor that one would be expected from lords of means. It was enchanted of course but nothing too extreme as the material would break down too quickly with a lot much magic running through it, as it was simple leather. There was a reason that most magical clothing was made out of magical animals and not their mundane counterparts, it was another reason he had ample magical animal farms.

They made their way out of the trunk after looking over the red dots once again. It seemed they were all on a single ship and there was about twenty of them. There was not too many for them to be easily dealt with, but it reinforced the fact that they needed to get some guards here, and soon. With that they made their way to the harbour still under construction, there were no docks yet at all. So they stood there waiting.

"Pup I feel a bit foolish." Sirius said after a few minutes.

"Yeah me too." Harry said as they had both realized in their haste they had forgotten it would take the attackers at least a few hours to make their way down the last leg of the bay. They didn't go anywhere but Harry did conjure two chairs for them to sit on while they waited enjoying the beautiful scenery. "So I figure after we deal with these wankers we can discuss a great idea I had for you to occupy your time productively." Harry said to Sirius as he looked over at the man who raised his right eyebrow in response.

"Oh that does sound interesting." Sirius said a bit mockingly to him.

"I am pretty proud of my idea in fact, and it will be a great service to both of our houses and to almost the entire realm simultaneously. The fact that I think you will have a blast doing it doesn't hurt." he said not letting on at all about his actual idea. "I will wait till after the battle to tell you otherwise you may get distracted and make a mistake. Speaking of, how are you going to approach the coming fight?" Harry asked.

"I think going with me casting from afar and you taking the fight to them would be best." Sirius said seriously while looking at him. "I do not have your levels of reflexes, or speed and am better suited to provide you support from afar." Harry understood why Sirius wouldn't do the rituals Harry had, as any small mistake could possibly cripple him for life and Sirius was not confident enough in himself, but as a result it did make the man far more vulnerable.

"That sounds reasonable to me." Harry said as he looked out over the crystal blue water of the bay they were sitting at. He imagined in the future many people would come out here to enjoy the view or even go for a swim. That reminded him to have the Elves add some runes to constantly clean the water on the harbour bottom, to remove garbage and pollutants. The ones used in the sewers could be easily modified for this purpose. "Think we should inform Larim about the attack?" Harry asked as he got his mind back on the coming fight.

"Didn't you say they were having a date and that was why he was unable to join us in the hot springs?" Sirius asked, which Harry nodded to in affirmation. "Then na, I don't think this will be beyond anything we can handle. They are muggles after all." Sirius said letting a bit of his upbringing come through. Harry didn't mind leaving Larim and Melisandre to their date night that they had at least once each week, somewhere else new in his manor trunk.

After nearly two hours Harry finally caught sight of the boat coming in, and it was a fucking Ironborn raiding vessel, it shared many similarities to those of the Saxon raiders of Earth's past. "It the fucking Ironborn back again for seconds it seems." he said to Sirius who still could not see them due to not having undergone the same rituals to his eyes.

"What do you think they are doing back here? I thought the inbreds in the south had warned them off?" Sirius asked.

"It's probably only a single vessel and not a raiding group. I am not sure, but they may have gotten wind of new wealthy lords being appointed here, but it could be something else." Harry answered the man to the best of his knowledge as he racked his brain for an answer.

"Oh well, we'll just have to make sure we capture one or two and ask them nicely." Sirius said with the smirk returning again to his face, which brought a bit of a smile to Harry's. It only took about twenty minutes for the Ironborn to get within range of the shore to jump out of their ship and start screaming as they rushed through the shallows to get to them. It appeared the fact that they were not running away was making a few of them wary.

Harry and Sirius had decided to let them get on solid ground so they could all be dealt with easily and preventing them a chance to escape into the water, as they didn't need tales of their magic in battle spreading. So they left a space of twenty meters between them and the shore, that the Ironborn ran up without even pausing. Harry dashed forward closing the last five meters between their two groups while drawing his sword and wand.

Honestly Harry had little true combat experience since he had been training with Larim, but it seemed to not matter as he flowed through the invaders talking heads, legs, arms as he passed in almost a blur of speed due to the magic coursing through his body. Sure blows rained down on him, but they were easy to deflected or evade entirely, as he returned one of his own, except each of his were deadly. Harry had already determined who the leader was and was making his way straight through the group to him as he heard explosions of Sirius' magic from the edges of the group of attackers.

Sirius would ensure no one got away as Harry dealt with them one by one. It was honestly a bit shocking on how appalling so many of these 'feared' raiders were in combat when someone actually decided to fight back against them. "DIE! You merchant scum!" one yelled as he swung his giant war axe at Harry's head. It was honestly a joke, and he simply ducked under it and followed it up with a quick swipe of his sword removing a head and a slash of his wand in the opposite direction taking the Ironborn Captain there by surprise with a stunner as he tried to sneak up on Harry to attack him from behind.

With the enemy leader down, the rest started to break, but Harry gave them no option to escape as he slaughtered the remaining half dozen as they tried to retreat back to their ship. Thankfully this raiding group didn't leave anyone on their ship otherwise they would have had to chase it down. Looking around him on the battlefield he saw all the dead bodies, which unlike the stone-men from Valyria, bled everywhere. At least there was no moaning as everyone who had been cut by his sword was already dead regardless of whether they lost an arm, leg, or head as the Basilisk poison acted far to faster on muggles than wizards and had already worked its course.

The only body still intact was the one of the Captain of the ship as the rest had either been lopped into small pieces by Harry or blown into chunks by Sirius. Apparently neither had too much mercy for any Ironborn. "How are we gonna get the information out of him?" Sirius said as he gave the unconscious Captain a kick.

"Well as much as ripping the knowledge from his head would be the easiest and most direct method, I don't want to have to sort through his memories." Harry said as he looked at the man. "So let us just use three drops of Veritaserum, that should be more than enough to get the information out of him." he said as he reached into his pouch and grabbed a vial of the stuff in question. He concentrated to utilize his magic to slowly draw three drops out of the vial after opening it. With those drop hovering in the air he did a bit of quick spellwork and banished them directly into the man's stomach, no need to fight the man to get him to drink this way.

Transfiguring some of the debris into a chair, he waved his hand causing the Captain to unceremoniously fly into the new chair were ropes appeared out of nowhere to secure him tightly to his new seat. Then he sent a quick Rennervate and the man who woke up gasping. The captain was groggy from the potion as seen in his lolling head, but was clearly pissed at them.

"Who are you?" Harry asked starting the interrogation knowing the potion would generally prevent the many from speaking without direction.

"I am Captain Harren, an Ironborn Raider from the Iron Islands." the man clearly tried to prevent himself from speaking but was entirely unsuccessful.

"Why did you attack us?" Harry continued his interrogation.

"We heard rumors that some wealthy merchants that had gained titles and are gonna build a town up here. Ripe fer the picking we thought." Harren continued as answers came forth easily.

"Are there anymore raiders coming?" Harry asked worried this was going to be a regular thing.

"No, most have return to the Sunset Sea since the raids on the North were completed. We were one of the last ships in the area." The man spat out after trying to continue to resist the effects. At least it was good news that there would not be any more.

"Why did you and the Ironborn attack the East coast of the North? That in not the usual area from what I have learned." Harry asked he had been wondering for some time as attacking this area made little sense. It was also clear the man did not want to answer that question, but his will power was nothing compared to the reality bending powers of magic.

"It was a distraction!" Harren almost yelled before slumping in defeat and continued speaking. "We were to distract the entire North so they did not see the many ships we sent to their west coast to secretly harvest wood for our fleet expansions." Harren said almost quietly now. "With all those eyes on the East no one saw us slip in and out in the West as we did not actually raid there."

Harry thought that through and knowing the size of the North, with how few people lived on the west coast, that this was entirely possible for them to pull off, and it was even possible that this was something that they had done in the past. It was even maybe by Ironborn design that they raided that area often enough making it not viable for most to settle down there. Meaning the Ironborn had even fewer witnesses to them stealing timber for their ships. This was definitely something that Brandon would need to be informed of.

"Sirius any questions you want to ask?" he asked his godfather looking for his opinion.

"Do we need to worry about a coordinated raid anytime soon?" Sirius asked.

"No... too many captains will be busy organizing new crews for the new ships being built." Harren spat out.

"To what end?" Sirius asked again.

"To gain power and restore the old ways what else?" Harren yelled, gaining a bit of his vigor back as the worst of the negative effect of the potion were wearing off. Not to say it was losing its effectiveness, just that the initial grogginess has started to abate.

"Don't bother Sirius it is clear he won't know anymore due to his low position, if there is even anything more to know." Harry said to his godfather who seemed to be getting annoyed at not getting the answers he wanted. "I think it is time to put this scum out of his misery." Harry said to Sirius which got him a nod in return, and had Harry sending a cutting curse at Harren removing his head even before his eyes could fully widen at his imminent death. "Dobby?" Harry said summoning the Elf.

"Yes master Harry?" Dobby said as he looked around at all the carnage.

"Could you have a few Elves collect anything useful and put it into storage. Then cremate the bodies and spread their ashes in the area to fertilize the land. These Ironborn will help our future people see a bit more propriety and returns from the land." Harry said getting a bit more revenge on the dead as he was preventing them from going to their 'Drowned' god.

"Harry, you said there was something to discuss after the coming battle?" Sirius said reminding him about their discussion they needed.

"Yea let's retire to the trunk and we can get cleaned up a bit and discuss it over some food?" Harry suggested to his Godfather who smiled in return as they both Apparated to the manor trunk. It was nice not having to always walk everywhere, but it had certainly given Harry a new appreciation of fast magical and mundane modes of transportation over last few years.

* * *

Harry walked into the small dining room they used for most of their meals in his manor trunk. By small he meant it was smaller than the others available, as there was only room for about a dozen people around the large table without adding additional seating. However, what shocked him was seeing Sirius already sitting at the table in new clothes and looking like he been waiting for more than ten minutes by how much he had finished of the danish in front of him.

It was not like he took long to get ready, and he even used a bit of magic to help along the way, but Sirius seemed to be a master of getting dressed quickly and looking spiffy in only a few moments. "Sirius how did you get dressed so quickly?" he asked the question burning in his mind.

"Pup just because you absorbed those memories from old snakey face and read all those volumes on magic doesn't mean an old dog doesn't know a few tricks you don't." Sirius said while beaming up at him, in a bit of a suspicious manner. "The fact that I may have learned these out of necessity in my youth during some of my more risky escapades that required a quick retreat has nothing to do with it." Sirius finished as his smile grew larger.

Of all the reasons Harry had thought of for Sirius learning the magic, running from jealous lovers or angered fathers of some of his past lady friends, was not one of them. It was probably the reason Tom didn't know them either, as he was not usually rushed while getting dressed were a normal levitation charm, and liberal use of targeted switching charms would not suffice.

"Why am I still surprised... even after our trip around this world, you still surprise me Sirius, and it also makes me wonder how my father managed to convince my mother to make you my godfather." Harry said in good humor to a massive grin breaking out on Sirius' face, meaning there must actually be a story behind it.

"So what is this grand ideas of your pup?" Sirius asked not wanting to wait any longer as he seemed to be excited about having something to do.

"Well Sirius I think this recent instance highlights our need for more information coming in from outside." he started to speak as he grabbed himself a few breakfast danishes and started to butter them. "I would like you to first design a fairly nice set of gambling and pleasure houses to go throughout our new city here. Possibly even a red-light type district." Harry said to the shock of Sirius as Harry had not gotten involved at all with whores at all during their trip. "I want there to be proper regulations, and practices going with them." he said.

"I can see where you are coming from, some of those places I visited did not treat their employees well." Sirius said as he seemed to be thinking of the idea. "What did you have in mind." Sirius asked after bring his attention back to him.

"I was thinking we start here to get the basic structure down, then spread it throughout Westeros and some on the west coast of Essos. We would offer sexual and gambling services and ensure no one is being cheated or put in danger. With a few potions we could provide to the establishments, and a bit of proper hygiene we could reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases by a massive margin." Harry said his excitement showing as he got a bit into the idea. "It would be stupid for us to try and ban or regulate other people's attempts at providing sexual services to others, so I thought the best method was to provide the best and safest places, and drive everyone else out of business." he said looking to his godfather for his opinion, and approval.

Sirius' face had been thoughtful and the excitement seemed to increase as the idea percolated around his mind. "That's a grand idea pup! We could use the debts that some would get into to help further some of our goals. And you want me to set up this organization and manage it when it is finally operational?" Sirius said as his excitement seemed to soar as he didn't even wait for an answer. "And we could make a mini Las Vegas here on one of the streets to offer the best gambling and pleasure mecca of this world to draw in even more people, possibly even tourists!" Sirius said getting way father ahead of anything Harry had even envisioned.

"Ah Sirius we still have no people, and that is a bit far off, but don't take that as a discouragement as I would love to see what you come up with." Harry said with a smile as he had not seen Sirius this passionate about anything in awhile. "It will also mean a huge improvement in the health of many people as we reduce the risk of disease spreading, so we can even claim a moral high ground in this endeavor too." Harry said thinking things through, as there was bound to be some people who tried to look down on them in the future for being in the business. That was on top of those who would already do so because they had been merchants who had gained their lordships through their own efforts, as ironic as that was.

"How will we have the information passed back to us?" Sirius asked a good question that Harry had also asked himself when he had first thought of the idea. It would not be terribly useful if the information they received was slower to arrive than say the attack it was warning of. Therefor he had devised a system where a letter or file could be placed through a slot on a letter box, almost like a small sealed mail box with a ward that would make no one question the fact no one picked up the letters. This box would then transport the letter to their central office which would be manned by a few older house Elves who were not as spry anymore, but still wanted work to occupy their time. They would sort and tabulate whatever was received, then those reports would then be sent to whoever it was pertinent for, mostly Sirius, and Harry.

"Well it will take a bit of work on your behalf at each site you setup, as you will need to deliver and install a small mailbox." Harry said as he started to explain his idea to Sirius to receive and use the intel within the same day of receiving it. This did also mean they could use it for economic purposes as well. Say there was a drought, in X, before news reached Y which would raise the prices of food or whatever good, they could already have purchased the market supply before that happened, making a killing. Though that was not really necessary, but could help them protect some people from price gouging, during food shortages.

The more they discussed the idea the more both of them got excited about it. It didn't hurt that Sirius joy seemed almost infectious as even Dobby joined in their planning session after he had finished with whatever duties related to his construction project he had going on. They had decided they wanted their houses of luck and pleasure to be almost franchise like, offering similar services, prices, designs, and games across every house in every city. Obviously there would be options as they would open a few different variety of houses tailored to different clientele in each city they entered into business in. There was something to say about walking into a McDonald's almost anywhere in the world and walking out with the same style cheeseburger.

The Elves were going to start producing potions to deal with all sorts of various venereal diseases that would be mandatory for any male or female pleasure companions that worked at their establishment. There would also be mandatory showers for any clients they had and quick inspection that would be undertaken to ensure they were clean too. This would also lead to them being offered a potion for a small price, and a tidy profit, if they were not. Hopefully this would spread the effectiveness of some of their more simple cures they may introduce in the future, as even some basic inoculation practices were possible at this time.

Obviously every establishment will have security to protect those within, but also their employees and the large amount of money that may be present due to the gambling. It would do no good if there was trouble made within their doors so there was going to strict rules against such. Hopefully Sirius would also be able to set up Wards at each site like their warehouses.

Sirius' excitement seemed to dim a bit before he looked to him. "But pup this will mean I will have to spend years traveling around setting up these houses, and I won't see you at all." Sirius said clearly worried about them being separated. Harry chuckled at the man and saw a bit of hurt in the look returned to him.

"Sirius you're a wizard or did you forget? You can just Apparate back here whenever you want during your trip. Or use the reusable Portkey for my trunk we setup when we arrived." Harry said to the rising blush on Sirius face as he had clearly overlooked that possibility. "And yes it will take you a long time to spread them to even all the large towns and cities in Westeros, even possibly few decades. But you can network with those in the places you visit and spread our names, and our brand name. I imagine there may be a few lords that may need some more encouragement to allow us to set up shop in their lands, but in the bigger cities it should not be a problem." Harry said as he explained some of his thoughts.

"I forgot about that." Sirius said a bit sheepishly. "I am glad that there was something that I could do to truly help you out pup." Sirius said which had Harry zeroing almost all his attention in on his godfather a bit confused. "I was worried I would not be able do something that would actually help you, or something I may do better than yourself. I am the godfather between the two of us and sometimes I feel like it is usually you looking out for me and not the other way around." Sirius said while looking down a bit.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted getting the man's attention and making sure he was looking at him. "I am almost positive without you I would not be nearly as happy as I am now. I feel like the future is in front of us and I would not want to face it without my family by my side." Harry said seriously to the man getting up to drag him into a hug before saying to him. "Don't ever underestimate how much having you here means to me." Harry said putting his emotions onto his face he usually controlled with his Occlumency.

"Thanks pup, I think I needed to hear that." Sirius said after getting his emotions back under control. "I am also so proud of you, I know I have said it before and even recently at that. But even with just this project I could imagine your mom's face at the mere suggestion, and then her quick turnaround and serious involvement after you explained it to her. Knowing your parents, wherever they are, they are proud of you too." Sirius said to Harry which made his heart soar a bit with happiness. "Now explain a bit more about your plans to me."

That had Sirius and Harry planning out many things together that they had been putting off. The gambling houses would offer similar games that casinos on Earth had, however for now there would be not be slot machines, as they had no real excuse for their existence or complexity. The house would also offer credit for gamblers to allow them to get into debt so they could be coerced into providing additional information for the house or even as additional weight to help push any of their initiatives.

They were not going to be gangsters and break peoples knee caps, but they were going to have people sign magical contracts stating they would repay their debts in either money or services equal to their debt. This meant that even if they wanted to renege they could not, as the magic would ensure they worked towards paying it off. That being said those services would be mostly offered exclusively to the more wealthy as getting a small folk in debt for almost no reason when simply offering them a small amount of coin for information would work just as well, and see their lives improving.

These houses would also act as key areas that would spread new about their goods like alcohol, as when people started tasting what was available there, they would want that at other locations as well. That meant a huge market for their booze as they had a monopoly on its production method and therefore the only source for all bars, pubs, inns, manors, clubs, etc that wanted to serve their type of spirits. It was a huge industry to say the least, as people always wanted drink, even in economic slumps. That being said offering a hangover cure potion on the side would most likely make a tidy profit too.

In the future it would help with introducing use of their credits or fiat currency as they could accept anything at their gambling houses, but only pay out in their currency. The person would then need to go to one their banks if they wanted to exchange it, meaning many would just hold onto it to use later. This obviously would only happen locally where they had a bank system setup, but it was still something to think about.

After they finished their conversation about the houses of pleasure and gambling, they moved onto other things like their house names and sigils. Thankfully after brainstorming between the three of them, they were able to came to a few conclusions and final decisions. One Sirius loved the idea of using some names from Norse mythology, as apparently he and the other Marauders had jokingly prayed to Loki a few times in the past. Harry also like Dobby's ideas of using some Arthurian legends to name some of their things.

It was Hedwig swooping in and landing on his shoulder and smacking him in the head when they were discussing his house sigil for him to realize he already had something to symbolize his house. Therefor they went with Hedwig majestically done in white that almost shined, on a black background and for Sirius they went with his a shaggy laughing Grim in black on a white background. This made for complimentary house colors and made for awesome, but simple sigils.

For their house words they were far simpler as Harry just stole a saying from Earth that seemed appropriate for their trip to this reality and his house as a merchant. That being 'Fortune Favors The Bold', and for Sirius he decided to keep his family's original one, just slightly modified into 'Always Pure Of Heart.'

Naming was a bit harder, but they wanted to ensure they could include a map with most of the area named on it to Kennet so that it would all become official. It did not hurt it would be a fairly detailed geographical map of the east coast of the North and their islands. He had a few of the Elves working on mapping out the area, it seemed some of them enjoyed drawing so it was a win-win.

For Sirius' lands, they were going to be left alone for the foreseeable future except as a massive potato farm, as Sirius had refused for them to build him a manor there till they were done here on Skagos, so they were going to just call it Black Farmlands for now. The water between their lands though was going to be called the Grim Straights. They decided to rename all the islands and give the collection a name to boot as well, as their home being called big rock in the Old Tongue was not going to cut it for them.

For collection of Islands, they are going to call them the Snow Islands, whereas Skagos will be known as Asgard, the bay was to be known as Steel bay, as Steel would be one of the main products traded from their settlement in the future. The bay area was going to known as The Bifrost and their city as Avalon. Their fortress will be called Camelot, and his manner as simply Potter Retreat.

The other five islands had new names as well and they were included in the packet as well that they were sending off to Kennet. The last thing they wanted to get finished before the night was creating a brand for their products, that would represent both of them in the market. This was to be put on everything from sacks of cement or fertilizer, to every bottle of booze, or simple remedies they produced. So it had to fit a few criteria, be simple and easy to recognize, be nearly impossible for anyone to copy with current technology, and leave a lasting impression.

So with that criteria they came up with a rectangle banner that borrowed from the yin yang symbol, in it had a white half rolling into a black half and vise versa. However rather than dots of each color on the opposite sides, they would instead have their sigil animals, a Grim and a Snow Owl. Around the banner would be a gold border with the top and bottom filled by each of their house words in little black lettering. The sides would say House Potter and House Black.

Sure there may be some questions on their ability to print things on almost everything, but that will be quickly squashed as they introduce other printed items and have to let a rumor started stating they had a device to do so. Which was correct and in this case it was a magical printing press Harry had modified. Even a normal printing press could possibly be another source of income, but it would likely be something they held back for now as the negative political implication could be large, as the Faith and the Maesters got a ton of revenue yearly from book copying.

They included this as well as a few more documents in the giant package they would be sending Lord Stark. It would contain maps, information they had acquired, as well as a transcript for their interrogation that Harry was going to shorty inform the man about over the mirror. The package was going to include a smattering of goods they will be producing with their nice brand new logo smacked right on their sides. But it would not be ready for a bit as he got some of those production sites going.

"Where do you think I should get started?" Sirius asked Harry his opinion quickly after they had finished with their 'paperwork'.

"Well I would imagine getting a few gambling and pleasure houses setup here, and then heading to Lys to purchase as many skilled bed-slaves as you can, then filling your house with the ones who would want to continue in the profession after being freed." Harry said musing the issue over. "It doesn't hurt that they follow a goddess that sees the profession as a form of worship, so they may actually love the idea of our pleasure houses." he said as he thought it over. "There should be plenty available as well, and enough to train any future girls or boys too."

"That would also help with your other plan of raising slave prices huh?" Sirius said with a bit of a smile. "That's a good start, but I will need time to start getting things ready here first." Sirius said as he got thinking deeply about the issue. Harry was going to leave it to the man as he wanted him to have a bit more independence. "What are you going to be doing during this time pup?" Sirius asked as he broke himself out of his thoughts.

"Well there is almost two years of constructions alone just to finish what I have planned for the barebones of our new city to go." Harry said thinking over the list of things he had to do. "I would like to also he work on the Great Lighthouse and get it started soon, but that means having all the walls and most of the major construction either underway, or completed before then." Harry replied.

"Looks like we both got our work cut out for us." Sirius said as he looked out into the nice forest view they had in Harry's trunk from the balcony of their meeting table.

"I do have a job for you to do on your way to Lys though." Harry said to the questioning eyebrow of Sirius. "I would like you to drop off a load of packages at White Harbour. I am going to be sending the various Lords of the North and Brandon some gift from us. I want to include a few of our products and open relations with them on a positive note, and we need to get those documents off to Kennet." Harry told Sirius as he thought about his next little project. "One of the new ships should be arriving within a month or so that should give you ample time to get a lot done here before heading off to Lys." Harry said a bit excited about the possibility of new people arriving, even if it was a bunch of pleasure slaves.

With that their conversation was completed and they just sat there enjoying the artificial environment provided in the manor trunk, as the magical animals in the forest could be heard making a soothing ambient noise for their lunch meeting. While there was no real pressing demands on them, it still seemed their days were busy and usually filled, therefor it was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet with his godfather.

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A/N: So I most likely won't be getting another chapter out for this story for a bit as I will be getting my computer back hopefully on the 26th and I will be concentrating on working on my other story for a bit. That being said I also do need to do a bit of outlining for this story and have had little chance to do so with all that is going on in my life lately. Hope to have a chapter out sometime in January. Thanks to all those who review and once again for the suggestions!


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:** Hey everyone surprise chapter, I wanted to get this one out before I take a break from writing/fanfictions, as I had most of it already outlined in my head. Then I will hope to have a few more chapters for this story coming out after my break! That being said rereading this story was kinda embarrassing how many errors there were, you can really see I put out five chapters in under a month. Either way I hope this tease helps tide some of those who have been clamoring for a chapter for this story._

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 **Chapter 6:**

 **Asgard (Formally Skagos) Late 168ac.**

Looking around him at all the House Elves going crazy with the work they had, Harry really felt like maybe he had rushed things a bit too quickly. He had quite a bit of work to finish if he wanted to be done when Sirius was finished setting up his template gambling and pleasure houses. Harry figured there was about two months till that happened, but that meant there was just so much to have done, in so little time. Especially if he wanted to send a number of care packages with Sirius to deliver to White Harbor.

To prepare for new residences coming he needed to have the finishing touches on the walls done, as well as the remainder of the roads needed and dozens of other buildings. They did have dozens of shops, and hundreds of homes ready to be rented out, but still lacked a number of the public buildings he wanted. There were many choices to choose from for the newcomers, as there are small single story homes suitable for a single family, to apartments for individual or family units. There are even larger homes, and small manors available for anyone who is wealthy enough, like the one he was using temporarily while the Potter Retreat was being finished. Though those larger residences are far fewer in number compared to the lower income housing options.

That being said that could all be left to Dobby, as the little guy had his plans, and knew where and what to build. He would get updates from the little man, so that was not a problem. However, what the problem was, was setting up the distilleries he needed to produce some booze he wanted to send with Sirius as gifts. It would make up quite a large portion of his gift 'baskets' and he was hoping would be a huge future source of income for them.

The problem was that there was far more involved in the entire supply chain than just setting up a few distilleries. First he needs that raw materials to produce the few booze types he was aiming to produce. Those being, Vodka, like he had shared with Brandon Stark during their parties, Gin, Brandy, Whisky, and finally if he could figure it out a few types of Schnapps. They had not seen any examples of these during their travels, in fact there had been no examples of distilled booze types, giving them a distinct advantage.

Thankfully the raw materials, at least for now, were covered by what his Elves were farming in a few of his trunks. That being said there was a reason they were going to soon be planting potatoes on Sirius' lands. There were also already planting Juniper Berries around, and looking to import various grain mash for whisky such as wheat, barely, and rye. Those grains were available in abundance as they were produced in large quantities all over Westeros. He also had quite the stock in his trunks from his trip to the Reach, so they should be fine for now.

With the base materials prepared, the next step was something that was not something that needed to be kept secret, that being the cleaning, mulching, and fermenting of the raw products. Whether that was potatoes or not the basic process of fermenting was well known in the region, with only a select few of the additives going to be secret. Basically they had prepared yeast in bags that employees would add without knowing what they were. It was going to a good source of employment for future residences as they worked directly for them. So he had these parts of the process built in the town in the industrial district.

They took up quite a bit of space, and require lots of deliveries so it worked out well that this portion was not needed in Camelot Fortress. There was only so much space in there. This did mean that he was not going to be really using much magic in this part of the process, and therefore he prepared good quality tools for his employees to use. Or for his Elves to spell for now.

For the distilling and spirits production he had nearly a dozen separate distilleries setup within Camelot, protected by his tall fortress walls. These sites would taken in the fermented mash, and clean it up then distill it into natural spirits. This process was slightly different for each type of booze, and therefore each liquor needed its own distillery. These would be happily manned by Elves, as a lot of the process could be automated by their magic.

It was not hard using runes to filter the liquor when needed, as well as to heat each still to the exact temperature required, and the precise time. The hardest part he found was figuring out a reliable system to test the PH of various liquors during the process, but that simply took him exploring deeper into rune used by wizards in their own brewing processes. It turned out they had spells to do just that, and all it took was Harry automating it into a rune scheme. So the booze was finally finished, and he was done, right?

Of course not, this was where the next major problem he came into being, and that was that he needed something reasonable to ship his booze in, and large wooden barrels were really not going to cut it. So he took off on his broom one day and started to examine the sand around the bay area, and a number of other sites around Asgard. He was happy to discover that most of the sand in the area was in fact perfect for concrete and other uses, such as making glass.

Glass was always something he had been thinking about possibly exporting, but he had not thought about getting into it even at all this early. However the more he thought about tinted glass bottles for his booze, the more he liked the idea. He could equip each with their label and sell them in small crates with 12 bottles each. It would allow them to sell to individual buyers as well, rather than just relying on selling larger barrels to bars and possibly a lord if they were in need.

However the process was involved, and the secrets of glass making was not something shared in this world. That was why he purposely decided to tint his glass deep green colour so as to reduce its perceived value for anything other than what he was using it for. That being said his glass was good quality and the tint itself was important to reduce UV rays that can damage or spoil the liquor inside. He may look into the glass trade later, but that was for another time.

The first thing he created was massive 2m wide, 1 m tall, 3m long, magical ram scoop that was driven forward with charms almost like a broom, but commanded by someone at a distance. In this case either himself or an Elf. It was designed to be able to scrape along the ground, the bottom of rivers, or even a sea bed and extract sand and other desirable materials while leaving behind everything that was not needed and repairing as best it can the sea bed. The materials it would keep where stored in a massive multi-compartment trunk he created just for this purpose.

It was quite a fun project and something that he spent a few hours on everyday, and the first thing since blacksmithing that caused him to start using his time turner again. The reason for this was that during some research on the sand, and where to find it, he found that there was often a number of other desirable materials to extract at the same time. Those being amazing soil and fertilizer, as well as tons of precious metals and stones. So he spent a ton of time creating it to that all the materials would be sorted, and stored away. He even added on a part to collect and sort anything man made to see what he could possibly find that way too.

This had really gotten him thinking about the fact that this world had been fairly stagnant at a similar development stage for over ten thousand years, and if somewhere to be believed as long as fifty thousand years. That meant there would be so many more shipwrecks littering the bottom of the ocean compared to earth. Something between 5-10 times as many, so there was a good chance he may find something good. So of course he had to include that in his scoop design otherwise it wouldn't sit right with him.

While he was personally throwing around spells to create something to harvest sand for glass, he of course got a bit carried away, and said well while he was working with sand he may as well also setup a few salt evaporation ponds. So he did just on the inside of the East wall near the ocean. He created a few large stone 'pipes', but more like a french drains, to draw salt water into a decent size factory. Here he cheated a bit, and instead of using evaporation pools, he used runes to simply filter the water. The salt and certain other minerals went into one spot, where as the pollutants were discarded, and water returned to the bay.

Once he had his quartz sand, he added back in some iron impurities and a few other chemicals, and passed the sand through a special furnace he designed with runes to create just the right high temperatures to change the sand into glass. From then it was a 'simple' matter of producing bottles, and a bottling facility. One now could really start to see how this got out of hand, starting from wanting to get a few goods together for gifts, to building entire industry that he really had no one but his Elves to run for now.

The great part about everything was that there were really only three key points in the entire process that needed to be kept secret for the entire supply chain. Those being the glass making process, the distilling and aging process, and finally the labeling process. All the rest of the various stages could be offered to anyone to work without risk of their secrets of creation getting out. Whether that is industry secrets or about their use of magic.

That being said it took him nearly two weeks to just walk the a number of Winky selected Elves through the whole process. He showed them everything, from raw materials to finished goods, and even spoke about common issues, so he had been a bit worried it was going to be too complex, but he shouldn't have been. They picked it up incredibly quick, and he realized that he had been stupid to worry, as they were almost entirely responsible for provding him with all the wonderful food he had been eating over the last few years. Brewing was probably just another recipe they have now memorized.

Quite frankly, food was one of the big things that left a lot to be desired here in Westeros. Sure some of it was of great quality, but in general, one word he would use to describe it would be bland, and the next would be unoriginal. It was maybe another area he would want to look into, as he may need a few spices for his booze anyway. The one booze he had left alone for now was Schnapps, and that was because he really didn't have a big enough source of fruit yet. It was just a matter of waiting for all those fruit trees to finally start producing for that line of new liquors to take off.

The last stage of the whole process was the labeling. Labeling was a bit easier as he simply installed one of his magical 'printers' that he designed onto the bottling line and that was it. That being said he had setup a larger printing factory where sacks were created with their names and logos. They were then transported to place with Camelot or outside to other industries that need the finished packaging.

So after nearly six weeks of diligent work he was waiting at the end of their magical bottling factory waiting for the very first bottle of Vodka to come off of the line. Thankfully fermentation had started weeks ago when he was dealing with the glass issue, otherwise he would still have to wait. It only took moments for the first bottle to come shooting down the track, followed by dozens more coming right behind it. He quickly snagged the first bottle before it could reach the end of the line, and let the Elves get to their work. Basically all they needed to do was ensure each bottle was well made, pack the bottles into the crates, and then move the wooden crates after they were filled with bottles to the main warehouse by the traffic roundabout.

Harry looked down at the bottle and was extremely happy. It was simple deep forest green glass, and had the soon to be standard black and white paper label attached it its side. The label read 'Vodka' in big bold letters situated right between each of their sigil animals. The name cut right across the black and white change over, but the text was in gold to allow it to be easily read. It was quite crazy seeing a finished product like this with his and Sirius' company banner plastered on the side. He had worked quite hard to make this happen, and that did not even include all of the research he needed to do into the process or the countless trips with the time turner to make it all happen.

Deciding he had spent a bit too much time on this project, he went to find Dobby, and to see how the progress of the town was coming. The bottling factory he currently was in was saturated with others like it and the dozen distilleries all inside Camelot. He had set them all up nicely so that their outputs almost literally needed to go next door to the next facility in the chain. They took up about three acres in the corner of Camelot, but they sure made the place feel more busy as you could see them clearly at work.

He walked as he looked around to see the progress had been made in just over a month and a half since the Iron Born attack. Potters Retreat had clearly been finished, but he already knew that as he had moved in last week, but now all of the landscaping was finished as well. It clearly had taken an Elf a lot of effort, as it looked incredible, with dozens of hardier plants and flowers planted to allow their beauty to last further into the colder seasons. There was a low cut fence that offered more protection than it looked like surrounding the manor's gardens, as it was magicked to prevent someone climbing it.

The rest of Camelot was fairly empty still, as they only had a few select industries, and a number of warehouses by the roundabout inside the fortress yet. That being said when he finally walked outside, it was quite shocking, as so much has been accomplished. He had been mainly working within Camelot, and so had not seen the rest of Avalon for almost a month, but clearly both Dobby and Sirius had been hard at work.

There were hundreds of homes now, and he could even see three small five story apartments. Just outside the entrance to Camelot was a lot of public buildings, and most of them were new constructions. There was even a proper Avalon City Hall with a citizen and employment office, as well as a Public Library across the street. That was something he was going to have to visit soon and fill with books.

As he walked around he looked over everything to make sure it was how he had envisioned it, and found little he could complain about. That being said it was kinda weird without there being anyone around to fill the buildings yet. It did not take him long to get to the red light district that Sirius had been working on. Honestly it was not even as bad as he thought it was going to be. It was both tasteful, and for certain establishments it didn't leave you wondering what went on there.

He saw Sirius waving his wand around the front of the eighth building he had passed, and so he walked up to the man. "Sirius, how the construction going?" he asked.

"Hey Pup. Finally decided to put down the booze I see." Sirius said as he gave him a big smile at his own joke, and quickly finished up what he was going. "I am almost done here, just finished the last gambling hall, and was going to come find you to relax in the spa."

"Yeah, I decided to take a walk around and look at all that had been done. I wanted to let you and Dobby know that this morning I saw a ship on the map only about two days out on the south side of the island. Do you know where the little guy is at?" he asked Sirius as he took a quick peek inside the gambling hall to see a nice bar and casino combination. It was not too big, and nothing to the scale of casinos back on Earth, but it would easily accommodate a hundred or so people.

"Dobby said he was going to be working on laying the foundation for the massive fortified lighthouse you dreamed up." Sirius said with a smirk. "Now are you almost ready to send me off with this ship that is coming with your gifts too, or not finished yet?" Sirius said with a smirk at how long it had taken Harry just to get a single production line up and running.

"Yeah, I think so, are you going to be ready? I imagine you have been switch your forms to lick yourself with how long its been since you've seen a woman." he teased the 'old' man.

"Hey what I do in private in my business!" Sirius said jokingly, as he gave him a friendly shove. "But in all seriousness, beside going over a bunch of the details with you about the various houses we want to set up, I am ready." Sirius said with a huge smile on his face. It seemed the man was enjoying the job he was doing more than Harry had expected. Sure the idea had been good and well founded, but it seemed that Sirius was really running with it.

For one, this red light boulevard, was nearly three times as wide as a normal road here, and literally bathed in red light from tall lamp post Sirius had setup. It was quite awesome to see now, and must have been really cool in the night. That being said he could see a few spots that needed improvement. Like food, and garbage bins. Humans are disgusting, and without garbage bins things will just get thrown everywhere.

"I can see that, it's looking great." he said honestly still looking around. "Have you decided on how many different 'franchises' you will make?" he asked, chuckling a bit as remembering trying to explain the concept of franchises to Sirius. Luckily the man had at least been to a few McDonalds so it had not been too difficult.

"Well I decided that there should be two types of gambling halls, one of those will be tailored to the lower and middle class individuals, and the other to those of a higher class..." Sirius said and twisted an invisible mustache and put an inflection on his accent when he said the last bit. It brought a smile to Harry's face that his godfather was still up to his antics. "For the pleasure house there will be a number of themed ones tailored to location, and as well as to clientele." he said as he pointed out a few of the buildings, where one that looked like a tall pirate ship. He could only imagine what when on there, maybe he would need to check it out once things were up and running.

"I can see that. Did you practice setting up the mailboxes at these sites too?" he asked wondering if Sirius had thought to add them here as well. It was a good idea, as information from their own city had value to them as well.

"Yup, I think I got that set of spells down pat. I don't think I should have any problems making those nifty boxes either." Sirius answered before looking over at him carefully. "You know pup, those enchantments where nothing to sniff at, and I am quite impressed you managed to come up with them. Either the transportation enchantment, or the specialized notice me not alone where quite complex, but the way you combined them was genius." Sirius said clearly proud of Harry's accomplishment.

"Thanks." he said a bit awkwardly, not great at getting praise at all. Though maybe it was because he personally was not that impressed with the boxes. He preferred the things he created more from scratch than combining and slightly modifying two existing enchantments. That being said he has always been his harshest critic, even with the Dursley's and Snape around.

"Master Harry." Dobby said as he appeared beside Sirius and him walking instep with them. The little guy was sure getting smooth in his age. "I am happy to report that the island at the gulf of Steel Bay is now been reinforced and fortified. We also have started the first floor of the lighthouse." Dobby reported happily, almost getting a bit of a skip in his step. It made him smile at his friend.

"That is great. I am glad you were able to get the small island created, and work started, as the first boat with new people is to arrive sometime tomorrow. There are two more following it another day out. So we should possibly have a hundred or so guests in a few days time." he told the Elf. It was important to get the artificial island created before anyone noticed, and asked how an island appeared where there was not one before. Now everyone will just assume that it had always been there, as there was no one to say otherwise.

"Well Dobby, I think you should join us in the hot springs, and sauna. I think Larim will be done with whatever it is he does all day, and will join us as well." Sirius said to Dobby as they walked to the new spa area built into the city. While there was built into Potter's Retreat, there was no reason not to use the one in the city, as it was quite nice as well. That, and Larim and Melisandre have both moved out of the trunk, and into a nice home just off the main street. Two blocks from the hot springs, and he could only guess why they chose that location. With a laugh Harry took off down the street after Dobby and his Dogfather.

* * *

Captain Luco Capariss was returning to the north of the Skagos for the third time, and it was quite different this time.

His life had been quite interesting over the last two years since he hired on as the captain of this ship. For one he was guaranteed a base salary no matter how well the ship performed, and so were his crew. This kept moral high, especially when there were possible bonuses for performing well to top it off. No, his confusion had started when his new employers, a company operated by a Mr. Potter, and Mr. Black, or should he say Lord Potter, and Lord Black now, started to speak about 'benefits'.

However after some time he came to understand what they meant. Being assured a certain amount of time off and to know that your job would still be there when you come back was a god send for some of his sailors, and himself included. There were others but that was the one most touted by his sailors yet. However the most interesting 'benefit' for a good number of his men, was about being offered the option of moving to Lord Potter's new domain, and even offered a discount of 25% on their rental payments.

This had to be explained a few times to some of the morons, and the ones without families were not really interested; but the ones with families, were quite interested, to say the least. The fact that when they had first arrived for the first time and there was nothing there on the Island, had reduced that excitement a bit among the men. That all changed though when they returned for the second time, a month later, and saw the beginning of a small town were already well underway. Just the amount of money being invested meant that this place was not going to be abandoned in the near future.

His quick tour had only caused his excitement and shock to grow at the quality of everything, and the cleanliness too. There was no waste in the street, no mud to be dragged everywhere, as all the roads and sidewalks, EVEN the back alleys he had seen, were all done in some kind of stone material. The large house Lord Potter had taken him too had also shocked him as it was done so oddly, but he could easily see the benefit to the designs. When he had seen water coming out of one of the pipes automatically in the kitchen when all Lord Potter did was turn something, he had gone into a state of shock, he only collected himself when the tea had finished being prepared.

The real kicker had been that the very house that they had been having their meetings in was something that he could afford, if barely, on his regular salary. It was part of the reason he had finally made the decision to move his family to Skagos rather than pay the high prices they had been paying in Bravos. His wife had not been quite sold on the move, but she trusted him, so had organized the little ones without much fuss.

So here he was, with a ship full of people and their belongings, returning to Skagos for the third time, and he hadn't even arrived and he was already shocked. For just ten km into the bay there was construction going on, on a small island he had not noticed before. Workers seemed to be doing some work on a large building in the center of the island. The whole island seemed like some type of fortification or something, as it was entirely surrounded by a wall with only a small dock he could see when passing by. Said dock was clearly fortified, and only had a small stairs leading up through a gate onto the island.

He was not quite sure what it was going to be used for, but it sure looked like it could act as a great way to defend the bay or to harass attackers trying to blockade the bay. However he had no idea how they had managed to do so much construction on a small island in the middle of the water without a number of ships.

"Keep her steady boys, it seems the weather has decided to remain calm for us." he yelled back at his men, as he held onto the wheel looking around at the place. Honestly the island was nicer than he remembered, if that was at all possible, because it was already one month closer to winter. It was still a few more hours of sailing to do till they reached the end of the bay, and he could not wait to see what progress had been made in those two months he has been gone. Lord Potter and Black's construction crews that they had on payroll where some of the best he had ever seen.

They seemed to have methods that he had never heard of before, and the rate they worked put most other crew to shame. He really needed to remember to ask Harry, or Sirius about them. His short wait and anticipation was not to waste though, as the view he was presented with when he arrived blew him away.

He could see two other ships already docked at the brand new harbour that had not been there two months ago. The large walls off to the side of the harbour area that had been well underway had been finished, and so many more buildings, more than he could count had been constructed in his absence. He honestly had no idea where to look first, and was shocked beyond belief. There has to have been a few thousand of those high quality construction members more arrive just after he had left with his crew.

Someone on one of the piers was waving for them to come in and dock at that slip. It seemed this time he would not need to use a small dingy to get to shore. That would certainly reduce the time needed to unload all their cargo and passengers.

He indicated to his skipper who started yelling at their men preparing them for docking. He could see a few of the sails coming down, ropes being thrown about, but his entire focus was bringing in his ship in without crashing into the brand new dock.

It didn't take long for rope to be thrown to the dock and the ship to be secured properly. He took his time but once everyone was secure he was the first off the ship to see the lay of the land. The first thing he noticed when walking onto the dockside, was how well it was made. The dock was clearly made out of milled lumber, and from the looks of it, it was Ironwood too, which most likely cost an arm and a leg to get for all of the dock. The stuff was notorious for lasting, but it cost also reflect it usefulness in any type of construction.

Not just that but whatever was securing the dock was thing weird smooth round topped nails. He had never seen anything like them before, but his time to inspect the new dock was cut short by the man who had been waving in their boat. "Captain Luco?" the middle-aged gentlemen asked of him after he walked up.

"Ya'd be me. What I can I do you for?" he asked the clear dock master.

"Not much, as there is no docking fee for company ships. By the way, my name is Georgie." the newly identified man said smiling as looked over something of his ship, and then noted it down on the paper he had attached to some kind of board. "I am the new harbour master, recently hired as of yesterday." the man said with a big smile. "Just needed to pass a long a message to you, that Lord Potter would like to talk to you once you have things settled here." the man said happily.

"Alrighty, do you know where I should be unloading these people?" he asked the new harbour master, indicating back to his boat where a bunch of the passengers had started to make it top side to look around at the new town.

"Yup, there's an office just inside for new arrivals that will help direct everyone where they need to go." Georgie said as they walked towards land, and he finally got to look over everything else. If nothing else, his new bosses, certainly had taste, as the whole joint simply oozed style and quality. Nothing he could find around him, from the wood, to anything made from that same stone material he can seen before, was done poorly. Even some of the simple stone partitions he saw, had a few designs carved into them to give everything an elegant look. "You will need to get yourself a citizenship card there before going to see Lord Potter." Georgie said as they finally approached what looked like some kind of official like or entrance.

It was only then that he realized that there were only a select few places to enter from the harbour into the city, and each of them seemed to be guarded with a gateway area. The front facing businesses for warehouses and other services, now that he looked, almost acted like a funnel and wall to prevent people from going into the city not through one of the three gates. It was also obvious that this gate was the only one being used at the moment. He was taking this all in so he had not been able to ask his questions about the so called citizenship card before they had arrived.

"Well here we are, if you could sign this here to confirm the details about your ship, I can let you go ahead." Georgie said as he handed over his board with paper on it. Quickly scanning what was on it, Luco realized it was simply a record of their arrival and what the ship was. It stated the ships name, time of arrival, and that it was a company ship, that was it. So he quickly signed it and before handing it back to the man.

"Here you are." he said to the man handing over the board, before looking at the three lines, all empty that lead to three people sitting in booths. There were no guards around that he could see yet, but he imagined they were somewhere, or possible not even yet assigned as there were not many people yet. "Anything I should know?" he asked Georgie pointing to the odd reception in front of him.

"Not at all." Georgie said with a smile. "It's a fairly quick process, a little odd and a tad mysterious, but can't fault our new Lord's wanting to keep track of who's coming and going." the young harbour master said jubilantly, causing him to be a bit more interested in the process. "Just walk up to one of those there desks, and they will sort you out. Anything else you need me for?"

"Just let my first mate know to start unloading everyone so they can be processed here." he told the harbour master. "I think I will get started and see what Lord Potter wished to speak to me about." he said happily as he walked up to start the process.

* * *

Luco was now certain about something, and that was that his new employers, and he guessed now Lords seeing as he now lived here, where not normal. The quick process he had just passed through to get his 'citizenship' sorted out had just cemented it in his head.

He was walking along the new town, still shocked by how many new buildings had been made since his last visit, and not just that, but there were parks and even fountains with running waters now. Not just a few either, since he had set out to the walled inner fortress, that he was told by the nice lady at the desk was called Camelot, he had seen a number of parks, and benches, and four fountains with large basins that people will most likely drink out of sometime in the future.

It was quite a shock for him, but what had most of his attention right now was the small card, his 'Identification Card', that he now carried. It was made out of some hard material he had never seen before, and had the neatest little writing across its front with a two sigils. It had a lot of his details on it, like his name, a brief description of his characteristics, and even a unique identification number, but what had most of his attention was not the nice printing, but the picture that held a striking resemblance to him.

Sure he had heard of paintings and other pictures with incredible detail and accuracy, but this almost looked like he was looking into his reflection. The crazy part of it all, was that all that was required of him was looking into this black square by the lady's podium for a few seconds before the picture was added to his card. It had to be magic, and the idea of magic made what he was seeing around him make a lot more sense.

Not that he could be sure, but it didn't really matter to him, as he could not see either Lord Potter, or Lord Black doing anything terrible to achieve anything with this magic like he had heard some of those groups far out East did. That being said it was most likely that they discovered some long lost secrets of Valyria, as all this stone work reminded him so much of some of the stuff of Valyria that he had seen in Volantis.

That being said it could also have to do with something they learnt in the North, as he had heard tales of some of the things that roamed the North in the past. He did know his new lords were natives to these lands and could have learnt their magic here somewhere. That being said he cared not a bit either way, as it was none of his business, and they had done nothing but benefit him so far with their 'magic'. He thought this all as he continued to take in the many empty shops, and only two that he had seen someone setting things up in.

It was as he got closer to Camelot that he got his next big surprise, and that was the buildings here that were clearly of another scale. They were far larger, and he could already see signs on top of their massive doors that advertised what they were. He could see one that said 'City Hall', 'Public Register', 'Law Enforcement', and another massive building across the large plaza he had come to that said 'Public Library'. The library was the most surprising, as it was huge, and he could only imagine how many books could be stored in there. The building took up nearly fifty meters of road space, went back over a hundred, and was a few stories tall.

What was most shocking about the library, was that is was claiming to be public. Sure he had heard of some libraries around, but nearly all of them were private, and quite a bit smaller than this one seemed to be claiming to be by the building size alone. He had heard that the largest in the world was in the Maesters Tower, but that was not open to the public and even Kings had to make requests to enter. So the fact that the new town he was moving to offered one to the public was quite the shock.

He expected that it will cost quite a bit, even if it was publicly available. That or its offerings will be quite limited, as he knew books were extremely expensive. That being said he could see no signs advertising how much it cost, but it was clearly open for business as the doors were open wide almost inviting people in. It was something he would have to check out soon, but first he had to meet his new lords and get own family settled in this city.

Moving through the large public square that seemed to house a number of public buildings, he ended up in front of the huge gateway that was many spans wide to allow traffic on the road going both ways. It had a large metal grate that could easily be dropped, but other than that he could only see two guards currently on duty. He approached them and was confronted.

"This is the entrance that Camelot, what is your business here?" asked one of the guards politely from where he was standing.

"My name is Luco, and I was ordered to come speak with Lord Potter on my arrival." he said cogently back to the guard.

"Identification Card please." the other guard said holding out his hand as he approached, surprising Luco, and prompting him to hand over the card he was still holding. The guard looked it over and looked back at him, before handing it back over. "You can go right in, Lord Potter is currently in the Potter's Retreat, the large manor you will find to the right just a few hundred meters inside." the guard said as they waved him on through.

Luco walked through the quite impressive walls, as they were nearly 5m thick, and seemed to be made out of the same rock material, but he could see slight differences in it compared to the road material or the other types he had seen so far. It was quite impressive, and there was even a number more gates that could be dropped to prevent invaders and kill them in this confined space with arrow slits. Once he finished walking inside Camelot he took one look back up the 15m high walls to see a few stairs way on this side going up from a guard house.

He didn't see anymore guards, but he guessed that was to be expected with how few people lived here yet. What he did he see was that while is was little there did seem to be a few buildings that were actively working on things if the smoke coming out of chimineas on the roof was anything to go by. It was nice to see his Lords were already working on producing things to bolsters the economy here. They may even have goods of their own to be trading in the near future if the scale he was seeing was anything to go by. There must have been a number of ships that arrived before him if this was anything to go by, as even with magic you could only do so much.

Breaking out of his thoughts he continued his walked as he easily saw the large manor was surrounded by a short metal fence that was about 3m high. It was easy to see through it, as it was metal slats spaced out about 10cm apart, and allowed for a view of the incredible garden within. There were more greenery and colour inside this massive garden surrounding the manor than he had seen since arriving on this island. That was saying something considering the parks he had passed by while getting here. It certainly seemed they had someone with a green thumb on payroll here as well.

Walking through the front gate that was wide open, he made his way up the nearly 200 meter long driveway towards the massive manor. Hopefully there would be some better transportation in the future, as this walk was turning out to be a bit longer than he expected. However his thoughts were broken up as a large smile formed on his face as he saw his new Lord Potter walking out of the manor surprised to see him.

* * *

Harry had been notified by one of his Elves manning the front gate booths that Nico was on his way to him. He was lucky he was able to get the Elves in place to run a few of the critical position as new people started to arrive. That being said it had been going smoothly for the last few days and already two little shops were open. That being said he did have a general store operated by a few Elves also open so goods were available to those arriving.

All in all he was excited, but also still looking forward to all the things he planned to do over the years. It felt like he has just started, and so he greeted Luco with a big smile on his face.

"Luco I didn't know you had returned yet." he said fibbing a bit.

"My Lord." Luco replied happily with a small bow. "I just arrived and made my way here as soon as I landed after hearing from the harbour master." the captain said with a smile as he moved into place beside Harry as they walked back out of Camelot. "The progress here has been incredible."

"Yes it has been quite amazing, but so much still to do." Harry answered back to the man before asking a few light questions. "Did you end up bringing your family with you this time?"

"Yes, they agreed to join me and are now just getting unloaded with everyone else from the ship." Luco responded happily, and it made Harry happy to see this young captain excited about his new home.

"Good, good. You will need to get yourself and your family settled once we return to the harbour." he said before answering as they made it to the gate of the manor. "I will need you in a few days to take a shipment to Whitehabour along with Lord Black. Will that be possible?" he asked the man honestly not knowing.

"Yes a few days should be fine for me and the lads." Luco said after thinking for only a second. "Where are we too after then?" Luco asked him quite interested.

"Well Lord Black should have you taking him to Lys before you can continue with you normal operations." he told the Captain. "Make sure you register the number of arriving people on your ship with the harbour master when you return. It is important we keep track of those exiting and entering our nice little settlement here." he said to Luco as they finally started to leave through the large wide gateway of Camelot.

"That can be done my lord. Can I ask what are these cards and such about?" Luco asked interested showing his ID.

"They are to ensure that someone has something to truly identify themselves by, and allow for people to be assured of someone identity. It also ensure that we know everyone in the city, and everyone that should be paying taxes." he said with a big smirk to the man beside him causing him to bark out laughing.

"Can't have anyone not paying those taxes there." Luco said with a chuckle. "I am just surprised, I have never seen anything that could make a picture with such likeness." Luco said leaving his question not asked.

"It is a new invention of mine, I call it a camera. They are quite hard to make, and we won't be selling them anytime soon." he lied to the man, as the divided setup as the Elves booths that lead to the city where actually a form of magical printing and camera combo. It basically took a picture and pasted it onto the ID right where it should be when an ID was slotted in.

"That quite incredible my Lord. I confess I am quite shocked by the quick progress here, and now feel like the objective you have given us captains to bring people who wish to move someone for a new start, all that more important." Luco said seriously to him as they walked through the central public square that was just outside the main entrance to Camelot.

"Yes it is quite important now, more than ever for us to get people moving here. That is why I would suggest stopping by either Kingslanding, or another large Westeros port as see if anyone is looking to move to a better life." he answered the man as they enjoyed their stroll. Harry loved the choice of style for the buildings, they almost made him feel like he was back home, or at least in some of the older magical areas.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is that building over there?" Luco asked pointing towards the public bathhouse.

"That is the public baths, that are open to everyone." he answered, getting and odd look from the man. "There are baths for separate sexes, and for combined. There is also private baths available for a small cost for those who wish some additional privacy." he answered honestly. Proper hygiene was important, and even though nearly every house in the town would have running water, not many would have full baths, some would have showers though.

"I have heard of public baths before, but I expected they would not be accepted here because they would offend most sensibilities here in Westeros." Luco answered with a smile, and a bit of fun pointing out the fact that there was a ton of stuck up folks all over Westeros. "I imagine they will get quite cold during the winter thought." Luco commented as they passed the large building.

"Not at all, in fact they are all supplied with hot water provided by the city plumbing. All the hot water originated from a hot spring we found during construction and tapped into." he said proudly to the man, giving his excuse he had prepared. "We then installed proper plumbing to pump water to nearly all of the city. Almost every house has a water hookup." he said to the man who looked in him gobsmacked.

"Plumbing my Lord?" Luco asked a bit confused but clearly understanding their was running water in each house.

"Plumbing is pipes laid in the ground, that we did during road construction, that allows water to flow to all the buildings. It is provided pressure from the spring, and aqueducts." he said pointing out one of the large aqueducts just off to the side. "These will all provide my people fresh water to their homes. It is all included in the price of rent on your living space." he explained to the man as they neared the harbour.

"I am not sure what to say my lord, but what I do know is my wife will be extremely happy not having to hit the local well each day for water." Luco said with a smile.

As they finally came in sight of the harbour they could see the fifty or so people to arrived with Luco milling around the processing area, with a dozen or so already finished. There was a good mix of people, however the most prominent demographic was certainly young men. He may need to ensure he encourages woman to move here to offset the amount of young gents striking out for a better life that may arrive. That being said he imagined as soon as more ships got going there would be a fairly large flood of people, as free voyage on his ships, combined with good prospects, would drain slums of major cities.

"Daddy!" a young boy said running from his supposed mother to Luco who scooped him up in a big hug, before putting him down. "Have you seen this place, it so clean! And miss Margaret at the counter said there was even a candy section of general store, can you believe it." the young kid spouted to his father. Harry knew House Elves loved to kids so the fact that 'Margaret' teased them with the prospects of the candy section of the general store he had included, was not a surprise.

"Well Luco I will leave you to it. You can find the Housing Office in the main square we just came from." he said to the man beside him. "There is also cart available over there." he said pointing to a small building just off to the side. "They can be borrowed with your ID cards for up to twenty four hours. Just make sure you check in with Lord Black in the next few days Luco, otherwise I hope you enjoy your stay. Is there anything you wanted to ask before I head off?" he asked the man beside him.

"Nothing that comes to mind my Lord." Luco said with a smile which Harry returned before walking off. There was quite a bit of things he wanted to work on and part of that had to do with setting up a few more industries for his people to work in. The main one he really was thinking off was steel. However, that had a lot involved, and that included him researching quite a bit. Thankfully he had his ever handy Library Index Stone, or LIS.

* * *

169ac

Lord Manderly was waiting at the gate for his guest. Word had arrived from his son just now that Lord Black had arrived in the Harbour bearing gifts and wanted a discussion with him. He had just returned from Winterfell for the yearly harvest festival where he had seen the new roads that Black and Potter had built for Lord Stark. To say that he was more interested in these new lords now more than ever was an understatement.

The fact was they were the talk of the gathering, and had many lords split on them. A few Lordly Families were obviously upset with commoners, even wealthy ones being raised to lords. However, the fact that they had already done so much work in Wintertown, and that their manor was quite nice shut many loudmouths up. Personally he welcomed new bloods, especially those focused on trade and industry like is seemed Potter and Black where.

He was hoping for quite a bit, but even then it will take much time for Skagos or barren lands south of the New Gift to being developed. Apparently rumours were that they had paid and extremely generous amount to the Starks for their lordships, and there was some to believe in that. His contact in Bravos had reported back about them, and painted them as shrewd if affluent businessmen that were involved in many different enterprises, as long as it was honest and profitable.

That certainly was what he wanted to hear, and made any deals they did together all that more secure in knowing their character. There was also the fact that they were from the North to start with, and being a family that originated in the south of the Neck, they had a better understanding than most what that meant about the honesty of the individual. It didn't hurt that they had been great guests the few times they had visited, and he hoped to get a bit more of their special types of liquor to drink. So good relations were a must.

His thoughts were broken up by a horse coming in with Lord Black riding on the back, with a beaming smile, and his son Wendell following quickly behind. After them was a number of carriages that were full of boxes he could not recognized. It was quite puzzling, but he imagined Lord Black would explain.

"Lord Manderly! Thank you for welcoming me in person!" Lord Black exclaimed as he jumped down from his horse.

"You are quite welcome." he said as he exchanged a firm embrace with the younger lord. He could feel the man's strength through his hand grabbing his forearm. "I can only ask about all the crates." he said indicating the fifth carriage to arrive from the dock with Black.

"They are gifts and samples of products that Lord Potter and I have prepared for all the Lords of the North. It is also a bunch of forms the Kennet needed from us to send to Kingsland." Lord Black answered him, piquing his interest in the fact that he may have brought some more drinks with him.

"Gifts, we all like gifts, and I imagine they will be well received by the many lords. Lord Stark was bragging about your various drinks during the Harvest Celebration to the other Lords, so I imagine they will appreciate the chance to try your spirits themselves." he said to the man honestly as he looked over the nice crates. They seemed to have something stamped into them, and as he moved closer he say that it was a black and white design with a white owl and black dog. There was small words but he was too far to see what they said. "Before anything else, let us exchange guest rights." he said to the man, and waved over a servant who had a small plate with bread and salt, and a glass of wine.

Lord Black smiled and took a quick bite and drink before putting it back on the tray. "Lord Manderly, I thank you for welcoming me into your home." Lord Black said with a tiny bow of his head.

"Lord Black, Now that that is out of the way, why don't we make our way to my solar and we can discuss what you have been up to, and what you planned to do from here." he said to the younger lord as they made their way into New Castle, his families home.

"So much has changed, but mainly my job here is three parts. But first I must ask you to call me Sirius, as I prefer less formal name." Sirius said happily to him as they walked side by side down the white stone hallways of their castle.

"That is quite alright Sirius, if you would call me Wyman in private that would be wonderful as well." he answered honestly, as there were not many chances to truly get to be close to others outside your family here in the North. Most people of similar standing where simply too far away from his to make it truly viable. That being said he was on a first name basis with Brandon Stark, but that only proved his point.

"Then we are agreed!" Sirius said waving his arms around exclaimed loudly with clear happiness in his voice. "Speaking of my plans, first is to organize delivery of Mine and Lord Potter's gifts to the other Lords of the North and some documents to Maester Kennet, Secondly is to discuss and organize the opening of a few establishments here in Whitehabour." Sirius said to him, before pausing as saying amicably. "With you permission of course. After that, I am off to other cities to make recruitment calls and do similar setups." the man answered happily as they finally walked into the Lord Solar.

His office was nicely done, with a few items of value scattered around to showcase their family wealth. Even if it was nothing compared to a few houses in the South, they were proud of being one of the richest in the North. Hopefully whatever Sirius and Hadrian wanted to setup it will bring even more money for his family.

"That sounds like quite the laundry list of goals to accomplish, transport of your goods should be easy to accomplish." he told the man as he took his seat.

"I am only doing my part with setting up our home, you should see how much effort Hadrian's putting in." Sirius said seriously. "He even can disappear for days on end getting caught up in his work, but it truly has paid off as you must come and visit sometime in the future what we have built on Asgard. However your assistance with the deliveries would be greatly appreciated" Sirius said happily causing some confusion in him.

"Asgard?" he asked not knowing what that was referring to, but he did have a few ideas.

"Oh yeah sorry. Part of us taking over the islands was getting permission to rename them. So we charted all the islands, and renamed them all. Asgard is the new name of Skagos, and the city we are building right now is Avalon . We decided on the Black Farmlands for my own lands." the man said happily, though Wyman was not sure how well that would go over with some of the ultra conservatives in the North, but he didn't expect many to complain over changing Skagos's name.

"Interesting I have never heard the name Asgard before." he commented honestly. "Though why the Black Farmlands?" he asked the man not knowing why he would choose to name his ancestral lands.

"Mainly because I will be staying in Avalon, but also because it will be primarily used as farmland to grow the goods needed to feed a few industries on Asgard." Sirius said as he took a sip of the wine that a servant he had not even taken notice of had put in front of them.

"Quite interesting. I have never heard of such an arrangement before, but I guess it would make sense with how close you and Lord Potter are." he replied to the man in front of him, as he thought over how convenient that arrangement could be for both lords. Being able to pool your resources like that without issues is not something most could pull off. "Now what were these industries that you wished to setup here in Whitehabour?"

"Well we plan to set up several pleasure, and gambling houses all a cross Westeros in major cities so that we can have large outlets to sell our various spirits at." Sirius explained causing Wyman to realize how smart of an idea that was. Not only would their new spirits bring people into those establishments, it would create constant demand that they themselves controlled. It was quite smart and only proved that getting into business with these two new Lords would most likely only prosper his family.

"That is a great idea. While some may ridicule you for operating such establishments, as long as your houses follow local rules and pay taxes they will have no problem operating here in Whitehabour." he said loudly as he got up to put more oomph behind his declaration.

"That is great to hear!" Sirius said getting up also with a big smile to shake hands with him. "Now if you could have one of your servants retrieve the crate from out front that is labeled Manderly then I can present you with your family's gifts. It should be stacked at the top in one of the carts." Sirius said to the servant that was leaving the room to follow said directions, of course only after he had indicating the servant do so with his hand.

"I am quite looking forward to your gifts." he said gleefully, as he could only imagine what they had brought with them this time.

* * *

 **Winterfell Early-Mid 169 AC**

Kennet was walking into the main hall with a few guards behind him carry a number of surprise crates sent by Lord Potter, and Lord Black. They were all nicely labeled with the name Stark on them to identify who they were going to. In fact the labeling was something that had delayed him as his own personal interest in how the two new lords has stamped just nice writing and a symbol into the boxes was beyond him. That being said there was also a much flatter but even larger box with his own name stamped on it. The guards were bringing it along as well, and he had been instructed by the merchant from Whiteharbour to open it first.

They made it into the main hall to find Lord Stark and his family eating their midday meal. Lady Alys was present, and so where the three children, who all had turned their attention to him and nearly a dozen guards carrying crates into the room. He had them put them down on the ground and his on the end of the table well away from anyone eating or the dishes in the middle.

"What is this Kennet?" Lord Stark asked as he looked over what was being brought into the main dining hall.

"These have just arrived from Lord Potter and Black via Whitehabour, and their new dock on the Whiteknife." he answered honestly. "I was instructed to open the one addressed to me first." he said as he indicated one of the guards to do so the crate of the table. The guard looked to Lord Stark first, who nodded accent, and then walked forward to use a dagger to pry open the crate. It didn't seem too hard and the first thing he found was a piece of paper. Pulling it out he started to read it to himself quickly.

All it did was explained what was in this package, as well as those to his lord. It took him a minute to read through it and saw the other papers it indicated where inside. However there were a number of large sheet or parchment and other items, including a small dagger in his crate. He finished the letter before looking to Lord Stark to explain.

"My Lord it seems Lord Potter and Black have sent the documents I requested and more, as well as gifts for you and your family." he said to his Lord who had gotten up to come over as seen. Kennet turned around and gave a few orders to the guards. "Please carefully open those crates as well." he asked of the guards, before taking out a few more of the sealed documents inside, and looked over their labels. One was small and indicated it was their lordly documents, however the massive one was the big one that said maps.

He had not told them they needed to include any maps, so he was excited to see what they contained, that being said that was for later. "My lord, it seems Lord Potter, and Black have come to a number of decisions related to their lands. They also have sent similar, if only a single crate to every Lordly house in the North." he explained indicated the once behind him on the ground that the guards were opening, as he did that Brandon moved closer and first examined the create itself, as they were well made and the symbol was incredibly intricate.

"What have they sent?" Lord Stark asked as he looked into the crate to Kennet on the table.

"They have indicated that they have sent a sampling of many of their spirits and a number of other products to each lord they wish to in the future sell." he commented, not stating out loud how smart of an idea that was, to give all the Lords a taste knowing they will want to have more. More that they will have to buy, it may rightly create a nice little industry here in the North. "This letter here says there is a list in each crate of what they contain and their descriptions." he tacked on

"Excellent, they certainly know how to choose gifts." Lord Stark said excitedly about the spirits mentioned, causing Kennet to internally shake his head at his young lord's antics. "What else?" he asked.

"They have also sent along a number of Daggers for your family made out of something referred to as Snow Steel." Kennet said, while holding up the small dagger that was included in his own crate. The letter had indicated that this dagger was included in his stuff so that he could have something to perform whatever tests he wished to on the new steel they had created. "It is said to be similar it quality to Valyrian Steel, and just as hard to make, as apparently it is some modification of Valyrian Steel itself." he said to his lord hoping he got the implications of such a gift.

"Wait, are you saying they needed to use some Valyrian steel in the making of this Snow Steel?" Lord Stark exclaimed as he quickly pulled out the small dagger and looked it over. Once he had removed it from the nice leather sheath they all exclaimed at the intricate blue swirling and waving patterns that almost flowed down the blade. It was incredibly pretty, and he could see why they called it Snow Steel with all the blue running through it. Maybe Ice Steel would have been a better choice, but most likely didn't sound quite as good.

"That would seem to be correct, or at least as this letter indicates. They included that dagger there so I could do some tests to prove their claims." he said to his Lord, not wanting him to run away with his new toy, especially not after having seen how beautiful of a dagger it was.

"Incredible, and they said they included a few daggers for our family?" Brandon asked him looking at the create behind him.

"Yes they said they included five other blades. My lord this would lead more credibility to the rumours floating around that they managed a successful expedition to Valyria at some point. Most likely when they were first starting out their trade business." he answered and added on his own analysis. "That being said, I would assume they would have extremely limited supply, and the costs of these daggers in nothing to sniff at. Certainly not up to a full sword, like Ice, but still quite the gift." he finished.

"Yes it is." Lady Stark finally said something from her seat. "We will have to ensure that we send appropriate thanks." he answered while still struggling to keep the children at the table and eating their food while so many exciting things were going on in the room.

"Yes. Is there anything else?" Lord Stark asked him as he was still turning the dagger over in his hand.

"Yes my lord, they have included a few medicines for me to test and administer if they work as described." he explained getting to the final interesting part.

"What do these medicines supposedly do?" Lord Stark asked quite interested now.

"Well they said they have included three different medications. One is a paste to apply to burns, and bruises to help them recover much faster, if the description is anything to go by. The second is a simple tonic to cure and prevent reinfection any social diseases for a number of months." he answered while getting a few blushes and even a chuckle or two from some of the guards. "The final one is supposedly a tonic to help prevent infections, and fight off any existing infections. I will have to test these thoroughly before we use them my lord." he answered honestly but was nearly as excited about these as he was about the dagger and maps combined.

"Incredible, Potter and Black are already making a positive impact." Brandon said as he put that dagger back in the crate before moving to the ones behind him and pulling out a bottle. It was incredibly done in some type of green glass with a label containing the same thing he had seen on the side of the crates except it had the words 'Vodka' in the middle. "Yes making quite the splash." Lord Stark said as he flicked the glass bottle with his finger, to in fact confirm it was made from glass.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** So some people may not like where I am taking this story, or how I am telling it, but I really can't be bothered to try and make everyone happy, and am just going to write what i want to in this and most of my stories. Sorry to those are disappointed in that, but to those who will stick along for the ride, I welcome you to leave comments and reviews and I will try and get back to them as soon as possible._


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N:** Once again like always thank you all for your reviews, I tried to reply to any questions that were not plot related so I hope I got all those, but I got a bit lost on what I had read as I was not checking as frequently as I usually do. I wanted to get a lot more work done on my World Anvils for both my stories, but got almost ZERO progress done on that which is really annoying. That is mostly because I am starting my internship soon, which took me a lot of work to get due to lack of positions available because of a dumb budget change by my government made. Anyways long story short between finishing up my degree and working soon I have/will have not a lot of time._

 _ **S/N:** I struggled quite a bit writing this story for a number of reasons. I am not sure what it is really, but a lot of my desire to write in GOT has disappeared in the last six months or so. So that is why I am going to write a chapter for my other story next, as I don't want to force myself to write something when I am not feeling it, as I think it can come out unintentionally through my writing. I know that is not what a lot of you want to hear, but it is better than be putting this on a permanent hiatus while I get my motivation to write it back. So instead I will simply put it off to the side while I get some inspiration for it while writing my other story (Which happens often for me). It sucks because I really wanted to get a few more chapters written for you all as I had not written much for this story over the last year. I am note sure if you can even really blame season 8, but a lot of my love for the world evaporated somehow, and I don't really understand why. It crazy. That and I am in more of a SciFI mood atm._

 _ **C/N:** This chapter included a few other POVs, and some initial reactions that some people are getting in regards Harry after some time. Though do remember how slow information moves in an era like this, and that it is usually incredibly unreliable. This chapter also had the long awaited first real time skip, as some people were worried it was taking too long. There will be a number of those, mainly centered around important eras or events going forwards till just before Cannon. Like always I love suggestions, but I have to mention suggesting things he could have done, IE requiring rewrites, is not always helpful, but don't stop if you really want to as it may spark ideas for my other stories._

* * *

Chapter 7:

170ac

The last twelve months since Sirius had 'left' to setup pleasure and gambling houses in the cities and towns of Westeros and Essos, had been crazy. So much had happened that Harry could hardly believe it, and everyday he felt he was being run ragged getting things done, even with the help of his magic and his trusty time turner. Mostly it had to do with the fact that there were over ten thousand people living or staying in Avalon now.

At first it had not been too bad, with a few ships coming each week, but more and more started to arrive as time went on. Each was laden with people and their holds filled to the brim with goods and luggage. However, the ships leaving at first had hardly anything to take with them, but as his booze was becoming more and more popular due to Sirius's work, it was now starting to fill those cargo holds as the ships left. It had only taken just barely over a month for the amount of ships to increase to at least one a day, and only a few more months to be multiple ships arriving each day. The ships now leaving also now had other goods they were producing in their holds as they left, alongside the booze. It was also important to note that the huge influx was partially his fault, as nearly 1/3 of the ships arriving worked with his and Sirius shipping company. So he only had himself to blame for his current state.

He had been quite ecstatic at first, before he had the stark realization that he was nowhere near ready to handle the amount of people coming in. So he planned and got to work to fix the issue. First order of business had been the founding of both the city guard, as well as the Phoenix Legion. The reason was that there had been too few guards to ensure people were behaving and keeping the peace, let alone protecting people from possible attacks or pirates. He had charged Larim with training the first few batches of city guards, but had given him the job as commander or general of the Phoenix Legion.

Harry had also taken to teaching all the recruits a few basics, and even had a few of the more educated Elves help under disguises. Apparently they often taught quite a few basic skills to the Purebloods back in his world, and therefore were quite good at teaching someone who didn't know how to read, to read and write. He felt it was important for him to install some modern policing ideas and philosophies into his city guard. Hence him actually teaching them himself, eventually he won't need to as they start to pass on what he taught them to new recruits in the future. However, for now it was another things he had to handle himself, not that he minded teaching, as he quite enjoyed it.

There would be no recruiting for the legion for some time outside of admin positions, but he still felt that it was worth announcing and putting in everyone's minds. It would be a professional army charged with protecting all of the Snow Islands, but mainly Asgard. Each person who enters the force would agree to join for a minimum of ten years, with option to renew for five years blocks every five years if they still made the cut and were still desired in the legion. However on Campaign or during war, all discharges are to be postponed till the end of the event in question. This was to prevent him from losing large portions of his army when it mattered the most, but also allowed for shorter service times.

Like par for the course, him wanting to make a guard and legion created a ton more work for him to do. Just like everything else he did these days. First was deciding on what equipment they would have, and how or where that equipment would be made. This required him to setup his iron mines, his refineries, and forges, so he could actually produce some of the steel the bay was supposed to be named after. Finding mines to the south of the city was not hard with his magic and the scans he already had done. Neither was setting them up to be worked, however what was hard was deciding on how he wanted to work the various mines.

Does he simply get the Elves to do it, or have his people work in the mines creating more jobs. Unfortunately mining work was never really the best job around, but was better than none. He threw the idea around in his head quite a while as he was working on building the mine entrances and starting a few shafts. In the end he decided to employ citizens, and just equip them with a few items to properly protect themselves. Like helmets, steel tipped boots, and proper clothing.

Mines for coal and iron where a lot simpler to develop than the rest of the supply chain, and as usual he created an almost too complex of a system. First was gravity, and mechanic crushing of spoils from the mines, this also included sorting them. This ensured that he could remove as much of the rock from the iron ore before it goes into processing. Then was one of his first major advantages he had, as he developed a proper forge to facilitate the Bessemer process, which required a bit of help from his magic. Ok, quite a lot of help.

Basically once you had removed the initial large amount of impurities from the iron ore and was left with pig iron, you reheated and blasted it with oxygen. This caused much of the remaining carbon to oxidize with the air blowing from the bottom of the massive crucible and into the molten iron removing most of the impurities. Once the process has been allowed to continue for a certain amount of time, depending on the steel you were making, you simply poured out the remaining iron, or in this case, high quality steel into billets. The entire air blasting process was done by magic, as he had almost zero idea where to start to make anything like that from scratch. Instead he inscribed a few runes and he was done. No need to create another huge pile of work for himself...

With his minor runic modifications hidden from sight, it was a simple matter of hiring on his new citizens to work in his brand spanking new steel mills. The fact that they were not apply fuel had mostly escaped the workers for a number of days until one came up and asked him when he was going around to see if everything was working. He had actually told them that the heat came from deep in the ground, from the same place they had found the hot spring. Basically he had told them that he had tapped into a lava vent, and the fact that they believed him said much about their education, but probably more about their trust in him. Other than that one time, it was never questioned again, and working at the mill was an in demand job. It paid well and was stable work for anyone who could do the physical labour, and stand the heat coming off of the furnaces.

With a lot of high quality steel production capabilities now on hand, it was a matter of getting proper smiths to start making what was desired. This magnified another problem he was currently having, and actually prompted him to reach out to Bravos where he ended up paying for a few dozen smiths, healers, and scribes to be released from their apprenticeships and to move them to Avalon. It had cost about a dozen gold pieces each to have them released from their contracts, but it was dearly needed, as he lacked many people for those positions. Many of those scribes now filled positions in his government, or other places they were needed, and had already formed a fully encompassing workers union under his direction, that was also managed by the government.

He did put off making any but a few examples the legion's equipment, and stuck with the guard's for now. The guard were going to be each equipped with a spear, chainmail, shortsword, flat topped kite shield, and a blue cotton uniform that goes over top their chainmail. It was not much, but he did not see them fighting often, and where more to keep peace and helping in any sieges. Even then they should have more than enough equipment to achieve that goal. The legion would be far better equipped and trained, and would be able to handle dozens of different roles if his plans played out. Thankfully now that he had steel being produced he had more jobs for his people to take up as it was direly needed with the huge influx of new citizens. The other major benefit on his new steel mills, was that the production of steel far outpaced their needs, giving them another stable good to fill ship holds with as they left their fair island.

The second major event was less noticeable than the first, but was going to have a huge impact on the lives of everyone present. It had unfortunately required him to sit down for literal months, and workout and write both a legal code for their lands, as well as rules and regulations for his new bank he wanted to open. Having a proper bank that offered loans to everyone was going to be a boon to his growing settlement, and economy. However what it did mean was that he had to make a decision on a number of topics, and created even more things. As he said, par for the course.

The first task was creating a solution for the problem of debasement of currencies from around the world. This mainly came in the form of filling, or clipping of coins to remove a small amount of the precious materials, but also extended to forgeries, and lowering of purity by the mints themselves. The only real solution he could think of was minting his own coins, but was not sure how that would go over if he did a complete redesign. So he decided to mint nearly the same coins as those used in Westeros, but with a number of improvements, and on the backside of the coin each would have an Owl to represent their minting at the Avalon bank rather than the face of some king.

Each coin would have raised edges, and detailed pictures struck into them to prevent clipping or filing. He had an artist's work on the new designs a bit, as the dragon in the gold coin could be substantially more detailed with his die method of coin production. Let alone the fact that Hedwig on the flip side could not lack in details or he would not hear the end of it, however it was she managed to find out. There was also the date and location of minting, and purity of the metals in small letters so there was no ambiguity. Unfortunately this did mean that other types of Dragons, Stags, etc needed to be handled differently.

Someone could not just come to the bank and expect to exchange a clipped coin for one of their well minted nearly pure coins. This meant that all coins not minted in Avalon will require them to be melted down and have the precious materials converted. The bank would do this at no cost, but it did mean that there was a delay of 2 hours per deposit of foreign coins. The final result hopefully will be more and more people using their coins, and bringing more people into their bank. The final bank addition was the introduction of banknotes for large denominations of currency, and was what had him reaching out to the Iron Bank.

After quite a few negotiation via letter, he finally got them to be willing to exchange his bank notes at their bank. Stupidly they didn't seem to see the benefits and required him to setup another account with them with which they would withdraw coins from to honor the notes. It was incredibly annoying, but did not really affect him too much, as transporting coins across the water was easy and safe for him to do with magic. It also may gave him quite a bit of coin to use in Essos if that was needed. He also allowed the Iron Bank to reissue notes they had received to allow people to more easily transfer their funds to Avalon from Bravos.

Stupidly they did not seem to want the same deal with his bank on a bank to bank basis, which made him feel like they were looking down on him and 'his' idea a bit too much. Thankfully he was able to ensure they were liable for an fakes they accepted, even if that was not a major issue, as the equipment to copy his notes or their materials, simply didn't exist. The only agreement they wanted in return was to bar his bank from loaning coin to the crown, which he agreed to for a period of fifty years. Other than that they were happy to continue to do business with him and his new bank in the future as clients of their bank.

The Avalon bank was also one of the new jobs introduced that attracted a number of women. Thankfully the imbalance of genders had been fixed quite easily after it had been noticed, as apparently the number of people who wanted to come to Avalon was growing, and the number of former slaves they needed seemed to be dying down. He had apparently severely underestimated the number of people in slums or in poor conditions around the many cities in these lands and beyond. To fix the issues, all they had to do was simply start to accept a few more women than men every time a ship was being filled with people. This new policy quickly fixed the issue.

This all led to the last major change in the last year, and that was the obvious boom in population. Going from a few hundred to just over ten thousand in a year was crazy stuff. It had taken a monumental effort by him and his elves to get all the buildings and utilities in place, but as new people continued to get settled in Avalon, more and more were of those buildings occupied. With most of the main utilities handled, the House Elves could then concentrate on some of the larger jobs, such as construction of the fortified lighthouse, or even working on Sirius lands for potato production. Ironically the pleasure and gambling houses not only created a ton of jobs, but also created another headache for him, and that was tourists.

He was not quite sure if it was Sirius, or just word of mouth, but within a month of them opening he already had people coming from Bravos and Whiteharbour to check the establishments out. From there it had only ballooned, to which there were now 500-1000 visitor ID cards being carried around by people at any given moment. That was right, each visitor had to be issued with a visa, and ID card on their entry, this meant they could keep track of these visitors a lot more easily. Not that there was really anything preventing a visitor from deciding they liked Avalon better than where they came from, and making it their permanent home. They simply needed to head to the proper government build, and were told so on their arrival.

The problem the tourists created was something he had overlooked to a small degree, or at least didn't think it was a priority, and that was having enough temporary housing, ie inns or hotels for guests to stay in. That meant a bit of a scramble, and a number of their new citizens shocked at how fast the world's first hotel went up. It was the biggest building inside Avalon, if you did not count Camelot, or Potter's retreat. It had rooms for 150 guests, and was situated right on the red light district, meaning is what the first choice of nearly all guests coming to visit.

With the guests came even more needs that needed to be fulfilled, like places to eat, events and shows. It made for quite the headache, but it had been one of his new assistants that recommend contacting a few of the traveling circus and seeing if they would like to setup here semi-permanently. This had gone over quite well and now there were three different circuses in the city at almost all times. Apparently the hospitality industry was going to be one of their big areas of the economy in Avalon. Thankfully Sirius was around still, even if he was 'traveling', as he simply Apparated back every few days, and had handled the hospitality expansion.

It was quite the busy time, but he was happy and that was all that really mattered. He had not felt so alive, or as appreciated as this at any time in his life. That being said, besides introducing a few other industries he felt he wanted to have, the foundation for the city had been finally finished. It was at a point where it could handle most of its own growth by itself, and needed far less direction from him.

Or that is at least what he observed as he walked with his guard escort down the main street from Camelot to the harbour. It was only a ten minute walk, and he preferred to walk it rather than take a horse or carriage. It gave him time to see his subjects, but also let himself been seen, and see the progress being done on the city. Due to being so busy, he did not get out enough, and spent too little time in his mind being seen, and now as a result of his legal reforms, there was no need for a lord to oversee every case. Though he was still the last place of appeal, similar to the supreme court of many democracies.

At first there had been a number of people simply coming to him to appeal any decision they didn't like, but that quickly stopped when he started adding on additional punishment to any case that he felt was clear cut. Any time wasters were given a slightly worse punishment, usually a fine, but even then there were still a number of honest appeals that he saw each month. Sometimes that was an honest misunderstanding of the new laws, and he almost always let them off without additional punishments or simply a warning. Other times unfortunately it was his own government's mistake, and the appeal process was at those times performing the job it was meant too.

As he walked out of Camelot, which was actually far busier than before with a few carts coming in and out to the main warehouse inside the fortress under the watchful eye of warehouse employees, his elves, and the new city guard. The main plaza was certainly busy with people both hanging out and going about their business. Most looked over to him and bowed slightly as they recognized either himself, or him by the guard escort. He was not too bothered by it, and had already consoled himself on the fact that he was going to have to live with it for the foreseeable future. That being said it, was far nicer to be looked at with respect, joy, excitement, awe, or even infatuation, than like back in his world, where he was looked at like a demented hero, with adoration, jealousy, or even hatred.

The only major construction project nearby was the large Raven Tower that was being put up, as he had refused to pay the stupid fee to have a spy from the Maester's Tower install one in his keep. Even with his mirror to the Starks, there needs to be a better way to communicate with others than by letter on a ship. Mark him surprised, not, when he found a former Maester who had been kicked out of their group for his radical move of teaching small groups of children for free in one of the orphanages. Either way it had worked out for Harry, as he now had someone in his employ who knew how train up ravens to be sent to the various houses.

Once the large tower done and ravens were trained, it would be a public service offered to anyone who could afford its service to select locations. At those select locations would be another branch of their service ready to receive or send letters. They were smaller establishments than the ones that he had Sirius setup while going around Westeros and a few other places. However it did mean that the tower here in Avalon needed to be quite large to manage nearly two dozen destinations for public use. Other than that, direct ravens to lords where for his and Sirius' private use, as he didn't want just anyone sending messages directly to other lords.

The great part of all this was that he had created even more jobs, and once his new Maester had finished, he will be moved to the educational department, where the man's passions lie in teaching. The man loved to teach, and had been punished for it, and that was not something Harry wanted to see happen again. The fact the man resented his prior employers didn't hurt, nor that he loved to teaching all types, regardless of their backgrounds. The other great part about the Raven Tower, was that it was entirely unreliant on his magic, and therefore offered a true service to his people without relying on his magic. Not that he had no plans to use magic to help out the process a bit. He simply wouldn't be a wizard if he didn't. He had chosen to go with ravens over something more wizarding like owls, due to their speed and endurance in flight, which had surprised him to learn.

Besides the Raven tower, the other major things he observed while walking about was the fact that he could see a number of industries he had no hand in that were popping up. The main two industries were clearly restaurants and other similar smaller establishments, like stands and stalls. He could also see that they all seemed to be following the legal code to, as he could observe their permits attached to their stalls as he walked by. He even got a few 'My Lords come try my blah blah', which he would be lying if the smell didn't tempt him, but Winky had filled his stomach just before he left Camelot. The other growing industry he had seen was textiles, and had been shocked to see many stores selling clothing of all types. It seemed that the tourist boom, and Sirius minor impact via their new establishments, had created a bit of a fashion scene here in Avalon.

Walking through the main square simply brought a huge smile to his face, and to see that there was a small line outside the library brought another. Anyone with a library card could go into the library and read any of the books from the non-restricted collection without paying, as long as they stayed inside and followed the rules. They only had to pay a small fee to borrow a book for a number of days or weeks, if they wanted to leave the library with it. The fee was quite small, but one has to have been a resident of Avalon for two months before they could get a library card that allows them to borrow books.

It apparently had been a far larger hit than he had expected, and there were even people who came to Avalon not for the red light district, but for the library. Hence the line up, as there simply was a maximum amount of space inside the library and more people than space who wanted to read for free. The average literacy rate is still not high, but with a hundred visitors and a few hundred locals each day, those numbers quickly filled the already quite large library. There was another entrance for those who only wanted to borrow books, so they didn't have to wait in line.

As he walked by there were also a few people who called out to him in greeting, as he did have a number of people who answered to him that he worked with everyday and knew him by looks. He was certainly more casual with his subordinate than most lords would be, but it was mostly because he felt a lot of the pomp and circumstance simply wasted time. Thankfully he had those others to help, otherwise there would simply be far too much work to be done, and he would not be able to do any of his projects. That was one of the important roles those apprentices from Bravos were filling, as they were his government officials, and assistants. He had been able to poach a few learned individuals from other lords in the North as well as a few third sons of third sons were always looking for a place to make a living and call home.

It was quite obvious to him as they were making it through the central square, that a lot of his worries about some of the things he was introducing were for naught, as people simply went with it and seemed more than willing to embrace a few weird ideas. The bank for the common folk was one of them, and it was booming. Loans were being given out for businesses to help them establish themselves here or simply start up. He could see it was quite busy from here and took up much of the northern part of the plaza on one side of the central avenue. It was on the opposite end of the square to the entrance for Camelot, and looked impressive itself, and reminded him of a few large 19th century banks from bank in his world.

The fact that the government here only accepted coins or notes from the Avalon Bank, did mean that almost everyone was required to use the establishment. This had caused a few grumbles, but after those who complained had started using the service, those groans had disappeared. Everyone seemed to love the new coins, and were quite happy to embrace them, as most saw them as a fix to a problem that plagued almost everyone's daily lives. The larger merchants also loved the notes, and a few had approached Harry through official channels to petition to have branch bank establishments opened in other cities beyond Bravos to easily convert them. However, Harry had to deny their request, at least for now, as it was simply another thing he didn't want to do right now. It was certainly a good idea, and something he would review later, with him most likely implementing it in a number of years if all goes well.

Walking down the main avenue and seeing all the life in the once mostly ghost town was amazing, and kept the smile on his face during the entire trip. The fact he could also walk down the main avenue and not have to really worry about traffic was another positive. Most forget roads where once the domain of people on foot, with the odd cart. It was only the invention of the automobile that really forced pedestrians to the sidewalks. So his group made it way smoothly to the harbour, which was Harry's destination of this outing, walking right smack dab in the middle of the road.

He his reason to visit the harbour was to see the new shipyard they were building to start supplementing their ship numbers and designs from their own shipyard, rather than purchasing Braavosi designs off of them. It was quite the optimistic project, but nothing about the project he felt was too unreasonable to get up and running here on Asgard. He already had a few shipwrights, and other ship builders on hand doing construction on a few small ships in a few of the temporary slips they had made, but other than that they had little ability to manufacture or do major repairs here, hence the new shipyard.

As he approached he finally saw the work being done on the foundations, and it was quite a bit bigger than he had expected. Sure he designed it, but on paper and in real life, it was a completely different thing. It took up nearly as much space as the harbour, but was to the left by a few hundred meters, and even more secluded and secured. It was going to have walls to protect the facility, and workshops insides to allow nearly everything for the ships they would build, to be made within the facility. He took a bit of inspiration from both the Venetian Arsenal, and the similar Braavosi one.

The main reason for the shipyard was to produce a few of the new designs he wanted to implement, and to allow them to build war ships to protect their shores without having to rely on others. It would also help with increasing traffic of ships coming and going to the island, as almost all ships built here will be operated by him or Sirius, as either official lordly vessels, or as part of their company. It also didn't hurt that they would be importing a lot of wood to build them.

The new shipyard was a few hundred meters in size in each direction, and took a large section of bay front area, both on water and land. It was also teeming with builders, and construction crew, which were now heavily inundated with humans, rather than simply being manned entirely by his Elves. Funnily enough the Elves took the roles on managers, and taught the new recruits how things were done. He could clearly see that the Elves loved the job, as it was both lots of work and allowed them to teach which they seemed to enjoy.

The harbour just to the right of the shipyard, was also bustling with tons of people and activity. There were a few ships minimum arriving each day, so cargo was being loaded and unloaded in large quantities. There was also always people arriving with ships to either move to Avalon, or to take in the number of tourist spots. The new hot springs and spa area it seemed where what the woman seemed to enjoy quite a bit more than the gambling houses. This actually meant that instead of just men coming in singles or groups to take in the red light district, with the odd woman also arriving, there now were families visiting with wives and children taking in the library and hot springs, while often the husband would take a hand at trying their luck in the gambling houses.

It was all good for business and it could be seen with the growing commerce trade. Though for now they were importing more than exporting, at least where quantity is concerned, as some of their exported goods were quite valuable. Currently the main imports where Iron Wood, food of all types, raw textiles, wine, marble, copper, and even other raw timber, regardless of the fact that Asgard was covered in thick forests in some areas. He really didn't feel like cutting all their own trees down when it could quite cheaply be imported from all across the North or even farther away.

Whereas compared to their import their exports where a bit less in volume, and variety, but made up for that in their quality and the demand for them. Their largest had to be liquor, but that was mostly handled by their own company's ships, with a few other merchants getting in on the action when they could. He regulated that strictly, preventing them from ever being able to undersell him, as he only gave them a slight discount on their sale in Avalon, which merchants would have to add shipping costs to when selling in other areas. Meaning that most will still go to get their fix from any of P&G locations they had set up in the other main cities. This meant most merchants buying it up where taking to the East or places Harry and Sirius didn't serve, like small towns or villages.

The next biggest export actually surprised Harry, as he had thought it was going to be steel, but in fact it turned out to be salt. He may have gone a bit overboard when making his salt extractor, as it seemed the ability of them to sell it for as cheap as they did, and at such high quality, attracted a lot of buyers. He had honestly forgotten how important and hard to come by salt was for people in this time period or technology level. So when ultra high quality sea salt was beautifully packaged in his nice branded bags and sold for cheap meant it was flowing off the shelves. It was selling like hotcakes, and some ships simply filled their hulls with the stuff before leaving. It was also happily employing nearly a hundred or so citizens to package, store, and haul sacks of salt to wherever they were needed to be shipped out.

Finally it was steel, which they sold in so many different forms. Often it was simply them exporting good steel to be remade into whatever at its destination, otherwise it was selling finished goods, often made from higher quality steel. They were not giving anything away that was not really already available to others, so there was no real risk to their security doing so. They were simply producing consistent high quality steel at a faster rate and for far far cheaper than any other entity or persons could. In fact, their blacksmiths were not even the best, and still had room to improve, but with all the work they were doing they were improving fast. The last major export was coal, and it was in much smaller quantities compared to the first three items, as it seemed a few cities in Essos loved to use the stuff, and where always looking for sellers.

Regardless, what this all meant for Avalon, or more precisely, Asgard, was that it was growing at a fast rate, and prospering too. Now that most of the foundation for what he and Sirius wanted to make here were laid, he could take a bit more of a relaxed approach to the development of their lands. There had been a number of things he had been putting off while making and planning his city, planning that he wanted to get back to. For one he had not really even done any planning for the Black Farmlands, nor had he done an extensive amount of magical study lately, which he loved doing. Either way he was incredibly happy with his budding city and could not wait to see what it would be like in the future.

* * *

Late 170ac

Kennet sat patiently waiting for his lord to finish his discussion with Lord Potter over the magical mirror, which didn't take long. It was just a minor update on things going on in the Snow Islands, and anything of note that Lord Potter may have heard from visitors to his island that Lord Stark would want to know. This happened nearly once a month, and was a luxury not afforded to anyone else, as travel times through the north could take months due to its size and poor roads. However, the latter was changing with Lord Potter's and Black's construction crews working on the roads right at this minute.

The contract for that had been a bit harder than he expected to hammer out, as the cost was quite substantial. However, it was far lower than he had estimated, and the quality of road proposed far exceeded what he had been expecting to be built. It seemed that both parties had gone into the negotiations with different ideas on what needed to be done, and in the end Lord Potter's vision had won out, in that they would build a robust road to replace the existing one, and in some areas run an entirely different more efficient route than the existing roads.

Besides replacing existing roads, the entire road network would be hugely expanded, with permission given to Potter and Black to build roads and Inns throughout the North, in all lords lands. In exchange, the only thing the other lords needed to pay for was the road through their own settlements, as apparently Potter and Black didn't want to have to deal with the issues with redoing roads in villages or towns. Either way they did make their services open to other lords to help with the task, but were charging quite a bit more than they were charging Lord Stark.

It was good to see that their loyalty was already high, and the new proposed plan was quite ambitious, but he saw no reason to doubt their ability to pull it off. Either way it was going to cost nearly 30% of the tax income coming into Winterfell each year for nearly two decades to just afford the project as it was being slowly finished over the next twenty years. Or at least that is what he had thought, but it seemed things weren't quite the same in regards to their tax income. Just as he finished that thought he saw Lord Stark finish with his talk over the Mirror.

"Kennet what are your thoughts on the new bank Lord Potter has setup here in Winterfell now that it has been running for a month?" Lord Stark asked him for his opinion, and he quickly looked through the bundle he was carrying for the correct sheet of paper that had a few numbers on it for him to refer to before he answered.

"Well my lord I know you are aware of some of the complaints that happened in the beginning with the new coins." he said referring to the fact that most people didn't like the fact that the new bank only accepted their own minted coins at face value. It was understandable to some extent, as no liked to go in with 10 Dragons to have them melted down and be told they actually only had 7 dragons worth of gold in their coins. It was not that anything heinous was going on, as it was all well observed by the client, but just the fact that the existing currency was debased even worse than he and most Maesters had realized.

"Yes I can understand their pain." Brandon replied with a small frown. "Who could have expected the treasury to shrink by nearly 30% by simply getting our coins reforged. At least we now have good coin stock though." The issue was annoying, as they would have had to write to the Iron throne on why the number of coins they were receiving was far lower than expected, even if the gold weight was the same, or at least that is what he had expected till the tax revenue from the Snow Islands started coming in.

"Yes, at least the Snow Islands has helped us make up our numbers, so we are not sending less tax down to the Iron Throne." he said to his lord while looking over the numbers. Even though the Snow Islands were barely two years old, it was already making almost as much coin as some of their highest tax paying lords, and if his informants where correct, then Lord Potter and Black's personal income was even higher, as they own most of the industries personally on Asgard. They had barely even started development of the Black Farmlands yet, and still they were making far more coin than either he or Brandon expected.

"I know, I can still not believe how fast they turned those tough cold islands into somewhere that people actually pay money to visit. It's almost inconceivable, and here I thought they were crazy for the amount of gold they offered when buying the place, clearly they saw the potential where others simply saw another pain in the ass." Brandon said happily as he took a small glass and poured himself some Vodka. Vodka had become the drink of choice for many here in the North, even with the other choices available. For whatever reason it appealed to those who call these cold snow-covered lands home, even if he personally preferred others.

"My lord as they are still growing, we should be able to expect additional tax revenue for a number of years to come. I believe we may want to take a page out of Lord Potters, and Black's book and potentially invest some of that money into Wintertown, or even the castle itself." Kennet said to his lord giving him his honest opinion. "With Newport now on the Whiteknife, we should be able to expect even more commerce here in Wintertown and we should take advantage of that while we can." he said a bit passionately, even if he was getting up their in age. He could also see his lord seriously thinking over what he was saying.

"I agree, but just where should we invest?" Brandon asked, clearly already sold on the idea, which surprised Kennet. A lot of the Stark Lord's could be quite conservative when it came to the funds in their treasury, but understandably so with how winters were up here in the North.

"It is not an easy decision, but if the what Lord Potter has said is true, than they will need large volumes of timber for development, and ship building." he said pointing out something Lord Potter had mentioned in a previous update. "If we could develop and expand our forestry industry here in Winterfell, we could cut down, or even import trees from other lords, process them here into timbers and planks, and then send those all over the North." he said passionately about his idea for a more robust and renewable industry for the Stark Lands.

"Hmm, the port does make exporting such heavy cargo far more easy, and there is always a demand for high quality northern lumber in the South as well." Brandon said, clearly taking his idea and already taking it to its fruition. "I think that may be a great idea, and with more salt coming in from Snow Islands at a good price, we should be able to easily store more food for the winter for the additional people this industry will bring in." Brandon said with a big smile.

He was also happy, as this would not be a crazy ground breaking event for the city, but it will be a nice additional source of income, and will ensure that there was a steady bit of prosperity in Wintertown for many years to come. It would also help the town develop a bit quicker and grow richer. All good things for the Starks, and for the North.

* * *

173ac

Sirius was in Dorne for the fourth time overseeing the second expansion of the pleasure and gambling houses he had setup a number of years ago. It seemed the Dornish loved the establishments, as he had started to develop a love for the Dornish, or at least how they lived. When he had first visited with Harry he had developed a small liking for the people, but with him being more active member of the community now with their businesses being prosperous here, he loved the atmosphere even more. Of course he had to fend off a number of offers for a daughter's hand in marriage, but it was soon realized by those offering that he was not looking for a wife. He may have also let slip that he was infertile and that all his lands and wealth on his death would go to Harry.

So of course he was more than happy to pass along the innumerable marriage offers for Harry's hand in marriage to the man in question. Obviously magiced to all appear on his desk right when he sat down each day, and Dobby right there to take a picture of Harry's face when he opened the first one.

"Hahhaha." he burst out laughing just thinking about his prank. Looking around he saw all the light colours, and a good amount of flesh that was on display as he looked out of the apartment he had over one of his establishments here. They were now adding the fourth of the four new pleasure houses, and even three new gambling one. It seemed Planky Town, and Dorne was the southern site for tourists to go to, mainly from the south side of Essos, and even the Summer Islands, who all seemed to love the pleasure houses. Either way it was becoming far more successful than he or Harry had anticipated.

Honestly he had not had so much fun in quite some time, and he got respect everywhere he went, and not simply because of his family name, but true respect for his and Harry's accomplishments. He was more than a bit happy about that, as he always felt he was a burden for his godson, and had little to offer the young man but his company. So when the guy spent days on end locked away on work, he felt even more useless, or at least that was until he found his calling. If there was one thing he knew about, it was having a good time, and how to do so with the opposite sex.

The fact that channeling those things into something productive was possible, was just a dream come true for him. There was simply so much he could do, and after Harry's had explained how it would actually make a real difference in improving the lives of people, he was even more on board. If he could pay back some of the red in his family's ledger, and have fun while doing so, then he was all for it. Thankfully in Dorne he could also explore having a more casual relationship that was not possible in the rest of Westeros.

He had met Ashley on his second trip here, and had really hit it off during his third. During this stay he had asked her to stay with him for a month or so that he would be here, and he had even told Harry he would be checking in fewer times due to spending time with Ashley. It was more than a wonderful time, and while he was not quite sure if he loved the young woman, he certainly loved spending time together. Regardless they both had gone into the relationship knowing there would not be anything more serious afterwards, and the fact that she was the bastard of a nobleman only reinforced that apparently to her.

Regardless, he was here to both buy permanent harbour space, and to oversee the construction of their new 'houses'. With having so many establishments here, they were constantly importing booze from Avalon to Planky Town. So having better and more secure harbour access was key to them saving costs with such a large operation. Apparently there was also tons of good information that was also being passed along to Harry's Elves, as some of it had even been shared with him, and helped him prevent a few major issues from cropping up.

In one town a lord wanted to seize their businesses to take them over and run them himself, as he saw the money they were making. Of course the idiot didn't actually think it through, either way, they had sent a number of well armed guards to the establishment, which had discouraged anyone from trying anything. He had also sent a letter to the lord in question, stating that he had gotten some information about a possible attack on his establishments, without accusing said lord of being the one who was planning on attacking, and that he would be stationing some guards there for the time being. Apparently the message was clear enough, as that the lord had not bothered them since.

This was just one example of the many that had saved their butts when it came to their businesses, as there were tons of greedy lords out there that simply failed to understand that even if they seized the pleasure or gambling houses, they would not be able to run them without getting supplies from them, which they obviously were not going to provide. Honestly, what were the Maester teaching their charges...

The spreading of the many detrimental, and annoying social diseases had also plummeted with the implementation of certain rules and guidelines in their pleasure houses, as well the potions to deal with them. The fact that they were also sold at their pleasure houses meant that others who got infected elsewhere could also get treatment, and it was working. It was one of the biggest endearing factors of their establishments, and the fact they also sold a number of other minor cures, that they had previously sent to Kennet in the past to test, didn't hurt either. They were hot sellers to both the lordly folk and the small folk, and apparently Harry had been badgered by the Maesters so many times for the recipes, that he had to go and banish them from Asgard just recently. Not to say there was not a select few that had gained personal permission to remain, but most had been banned from the island altogether.

Dorne was still not officially part of Westeros yet, even if it was under the Iron Throne's control. Thankfully all this meant for him and Harry, was that there was even more freedoms for them to operate here, as long as they followed local rules, and less that would get back to the Iron Throne about their activities. Harry was a bit worried someone in the South may get greedy and try to lay claim to some of their profits. Personally he was not quite so sure, but it never hurt to be keeping an eye out, and already small but growing group of people in Avalon truly believed they had access to magic in some small ways. Not that it was actually a negative, as said group seemed to be even more fanatically loyal because of their possible possession of magic. Too many people were happy with their lives in Avalon to let outsiders upset that horse cart.

Another bonus about Planky Town was that even though most in Dorne where followers of the Seven they caused no problem for his pleasure and gambling houses, as some places in Westeros had. Not that it had really gone anywhere, but some Septons and Septas were upset with the fact that somewhere so nice, and obviously prosperous, was a center for such sinful businesses. In other places some of the Septons even came to the brothels to get medicine at discounted prices, which they then distributed the poor, and where what Harry called true Septons, whatever that meant. Those types where more than happy for the addition to their communities. There certainly was not just one type of worshiper of any religion, and it was not good to paint them all with the same brush, but it was also not right to ignore the fact that they usually caused more issues with their businesses than not, and were far more intolerant than tolerant.

Regardless, he could not think of how his life could be better. He had his godson who was prospering and growing both as a man, and in power and skill as a Wizard. Ashley brought many bright spots to his life lately, and he was even thinking of inviting her to visit Avalon or live there for a time. He did not need to worry about other Wizards screwing up his life, and he had not ever been so prosperous before. Sure he had the Black fortune, but it was not the same as making his own wealth. It was quite the life, and not something he wanted to give up. Which only made him work harder for what he has, meaning he needed to get back to designing the layouts his new establishments.

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End of 173 AC

"And do you have anything to report Lord Caron?" he asked the master of coin, wanting the highlights for this year's annual reports and finally finish this meeting up. They were currently in the Small Council chambers finishing up their last reports for the year, before taking a recess till next year. The king was not present, which was not unusual for Aegon IV. Unfortunately there had been little to report of note to spice of the meeting either, as the year was wrapping up nicely with the transition of power having caused minimal fallout. The only issue he really had was trying to reining in the king, but he had been able to keep his Majesty's excesses to a reasonable level. Thankfully the royal coffers could handle an influx of spending on luxury things, or at least that is what he hoped lord Caron would be telling him.

"Little to note that the council is not already aware of Lord Bracken. Besides increased royal spending, the only thing I can say that is of note is that for the fourth year in a row the tax raised in The North for the crown has gone up." Lord Caron said to the council getting a few looks of interest. It was not common for continual grow in taxes, as it was hard to maintain any type of growth in industry over even a few years, as easy access resources or opportunities that fuel the initial grow tend to dry up quite fast. It was one thing to maintain said level in tax revenue after growing a bit, but to continue to rise is mostly unheard of. "This is also taking into account the new Avalon Coinage." Lord Caron said still a bit grumpy about that topic. Apparently Avalon coinage was becoming the most in demand type of coins even with the new mint that was introduced by the previous king; let the Seven watch over his soul.

They were actually what helped spurred the last king to introduce a new mint, as the problem with the existing currency was far more evident than believed if someone had gone so far as to start minting their own coins. Unfortunately the new coins had also caused a bit of a row, as the Avalon Coinage did not have the king's face on it, but the previous king had simply said that the Avalon Bank had honored the existing currency enough by using the same designs in principle and still including the majestic dragon of their family, so they could have the Owl on the back if they wanted. It was not like Lord Potter or Black was putting their own face on the coins. Some lords had spoken out against such a ruling, but not many as most simply didn't care, or ever expected Avalon Currency to start spreading so fast, like it has over the last few years.

A lot of merchants tried to accept only coins minted in Avalon, due to their accuracy and reliability, but that had been reduced with the new mint, but not entirely removed. Then there was the fact that Avalon Coinage could be exchanged for these special notes at certain locations making it easier for merchants to transport large amounts of coin. However these were not topics he really cared about, as all that he really cared about was that there would be more taxes to cover the increasing royal expenditures.

"Do we know the reason for the increase?" he asked back, already quite sure he knew the cause. The court had been informed years ago about two new lords being raised in the North, but most simply ignored the announcement as something the northern savages were doing. He had not given it much pause either, and it was not till various drinks started being sold in Kings Landing did he take notice. In fact there was a green glass bottle on their table right this instant with the now well known white and black banner. So it would not surprise him if that was the reason.

"Yes Lord Hand, it is the new lordly houses, of Black, and Potter that are mainly the cause. Or at least that is what my agents are telling me. They do some good commerce with Bravos, and some other places and that is bringing in new coins to the North." Lord Caron said while also getting derisive snort from Grand Maester Gawen. Everyone here already knew about the recent ban put on Maesters from traveling to or staying in the newly named island. Apparently they did something so annoying to Lord Potter, that he banned them outright in his frustration. Of course Gawen had then brought the subject up at the small council to try and get them to force lord potter to accept a Maester or at least allow them access to his lands. Which clearly was not something they were willing to do, or set a precedent for. Not all Lords wanted Maesters, nor accepted their wisdom as fact, and even those who did, would not want one forced on them or be forced to allow people they had barred from their lands back in.

"Jumped up merchants is what they are." Gawen said uncharacteristically.

"Yes well, merchants they may still be, but clearly now successful lords as well. Nothing too big, but a nice increase to the northern income is good for all involved, us included. Especially when one considers it is the lowest of all the kingdoms in terms of tax revenue, and is the largest by far in terms of size." The Master of Coin said in reply, while also pointing out what everyone already knew. Though one could not really blame the North with how harsh the winters were there, and how far it put them back each time they came around. There was a reason why most people from the frozen lands of the North were well known for their hardiness, as even their summer snows could freeze the balls of some Reach lords. "They may end up being an important house for the North, and certainly the one with the most contact south of the Neck with their whore houses and gambling halls."

"Yes well that all sounds good, and if there is nothing more of interest to note, we shall call this meeting adjourned." he said impatiently, waiting for a few moments to see if anyone would say anything before getting up himself officially ending the council meeting. Maybe he would go and enjoy a nice gin when he got back to his room. With that thought, he decided to relax and seek out his daughter to see how she is doing, and if she had managed to get closer to the king in the meantime.

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End 173 AC

Garrett Bergen stood in front of his monthly group of new and fresh legionnaires. He was Centurion for this group of 100, and had a second in command in case he ever fell to help him take up some of the slack. Unfortunately he had the unenviable task of training these raw recruits into something Lord Potter could be proud of. Thankfully he had himself, a Junior Centurion, and ten Sergeants to help, as did every other Century. The first and so far only legion of the Phoenix Legions, was going to be made up of 9 Cohorts, and 1 Cavalry unit with similar structure to a cohort, but often split amongst all the cohorts. Each Cohort had five Centuries of 100 soldiers sorted into 10 squads. In each squad of ten, seven were heavy infantry, two were ranged infantry with crossbows, and one of which was a support and logistic soldier, who could still in an emergency help in battle. A Cohort also had an additional 25 logistical and administrative officers to help all the soldiers in said cohort.

All combined together, the 9 cohorts, a single cavalry unit, and the support units gave a single legion a grand total of around 5250 people. There was a reason the entire legion was not being recruited right now, as with only around fifty thousand in Avalon, an entire legion would be a bit too much for such a small city, so only 6 cohorts where being formed right now, and he was lucky enough to be in the first Cohort.

Himself and the officers under his command had already undergone training from both General Larim, and Lord Potter. They were thought all sorts of things for nearly 12 months before they were actually assigned positions and given their ranks in the Military. One of the harder struggles for some was the fact that to be an officer, even a Sergeant, one must be able to read and write. So many had to learn from scratch during their training, thankfully he had the advantage of already being able to read. The training was not easy, and sparing against either lord Potter, or General Larim was futility in action. However, almost always would anyone learn something, but that also meant coming away with a number of bruises. Thankfully the medical core of the legion was more than competent and the medicine they used actually worked unlike some he had tried in the past. Not that he really ever doubted Lord Potter, or Black, as almost everything they did, they seemed to do with the assurance that it was going to succeed. So much so that a small number of people believed they were either magical or had found some artifacts during their travels and trades. Not that he really cared either way, as he could tell from simple interaction, that Lord Potter was someone he was proud to serve, and Avalon was somewhere he would protect.

The men in front of him who were standing in line under the watchful eyes of their Sergeants, were mostly in good shape, a few who would need work, but it was not a bad starting point. He did know that the recruitment drive had been quite successful, and the positions were in high demand, as it came with many perks, and paid well enough that no one could really complain. The fact they also got bonuses on the completion of their service, and financial security for their families if something happened to them, many jumped at the opportunity, especially with winter approaching fast. It gave them all a solid job, and food to fill their own and their family's bellies.

For now the men in line were in simple cotton and linen uniforms they were issued, which were in a nice deep green color, contrasting with the blue of the guard. Each of his new recruits were still yet to be issued their equipment, as they had a lot of training to go through before that point, and even possibly the expulsion of a few who simply could not cut it. For now they would be working on using wooden and weighted replicas that weighed almost twice as much to practice simple strikes with, and work on their strength and endurance. The repetitive practice against simple wooden posts would be broken up by them all learning to march for kilometers instep with each other, and without breaking formation. That also included practicing charges and other maneuvers. It would last for a few months minimum or till he thought they were up to snuff, after which they would be issued their actual equipment.

Lord Potter had constantly hammered into their heads during a few of the classroom sessions he had held, that the quality of the troops needed to be high, and that he expected his officers to ensure this and take responsibility for those under their command. That along with a lot of the rules and regulations they needed to know and follow, were two of the hardest things for a number of the new officers to understand. They were all mostly used to either being given a weapon fresh off of their farms and drilled for a week before battle, or in the case of the more experienced, working mainly on how to guard castles and towns. So the demands on themselves, and what they needed to do to ensure subordinates standard, was quite high, but as the desire for positions in the Phoenix Legion had proved, it was something they were being well compensated for.

It certainly didn't hurt that a lot of people were coming to cherish the place they lived in, and did not want anything to happen to it. There were a lot of people Lord Potter referred to as patriots or nationalist here willing to put their lives on the line for the home they had come to love. Personally he believes more than a few would do the same for Lord Potter, but it seemed Lord Potter was unaware of the place he had in many of his people's hearts. That aside, it was not hard to see why, with all the opportunities here in Avalon, or the fact that they had quite a bit more legal protection here than anywhere else, even compared to Bravos where he had come from. Not to forget the various activities one could get up to in the still growing city in the Redlight district, or any of the other places that attracted visitors. For him though, quite a bit of it was about the stability of the job, and protecting the wonderful place his family has now started calling home.

It was a home where his daughter and son,were both able to join classes for reading, writing, and math lessons each week for only a tiny fee. A place where he had a nice home he was proud of, and where his wife felt was safe enough to let the kids to play in the neighborhood. A place where he could see a strong and prosperous future for his kids, and even their kids kids. All of these were reasons he had joined up, and were the reasons he took his job incredibly seriously, because it could be him and his men that his family and the rest of Avalon many rely on for their salvation in the future. He would ensure that he and his men would not be ones that will let down their lord, their city or their families.

He felt that he looked fairly regal in his own equipment, and could see many of the new recruits looking at either his or the other officer's equipment. They all wore a similar helmet that covered most of their faces with a nose guard, but still had enough room to easily breathe and hear quite well. The helmets all had leather bands inside them that their head rested in to help with impacts and protect the head from anything blunt. Each of his fellow officers also wore their thick cotton and linen undershirt and pants over which each had their new special type of armour. It was a something Lord Potter had refined or invented, and now Lord Potter had the numerous Avalon smiths producing these Brigandine armours for the legion. The armour was made up of hundreds of small curved bands of steel that interlocked and where riveted into and squashed between two pieces of thick cotton. There was even a portion that came up around the neck a bit to extend over the lip of the helmet to give protection from anything getting into you neck area, like arrows shattering off your chest armour.

He and almost everyone else who had tried the armours loved them, as they had a number of advantages over traditional breastplates and other armour types. One was due to the many bands, as a person wearing a Brigandine still had significant mobility due the bands being able to move, unlike almost any other forms of plate. Secondly due to the overlapping nature of the steel bands, it even provided more protection than a similar thickness breast plate. At least according to Lord Potter. With chainmail skirts attached right to the armour, it allowed for good leg protection for a person when either on a horse or on the ground, while also ensuring the weight was well distributed along the armour. Finally as the steel bands were not actually exposed to the elements it helped with the colder temperatures that they often had to face here in the North, and if his lord was to be believed, the hotter ones too.

To finish off their armour they wore greaves that had small sharp spikes in the bottom to allow better grip on the battlefield, and had a few pairs of leather reinforced gloves they could choose to wear. The spikes on their boots could be quickly removed in a few minutes by unscrewing them for if they needed to spend extended time in a city where they were walking on roads and didn't want to damage them. The last piece of armour they had was their important shield, which they used in many of their formations, and was almost always carried. It was a large flat top kite shield designed to be able to be used in formation, and by heavy infantry, so it was slightly larger than the guards. This allowed them to perform many formations, and provided even more cover from arrows, if that was needed, as their armour was usually enough.

For weapons they all carried with them a choice of a few styles of short sword, with even longer ones being available to only the cavalry. Most were fairly simple, if extremely well made swords and were designed to stab out from a shield formation, and have devastating cutting potential. A longer swords would just get in the way, or tire out the user quickly in a large formation like they were being trained to fight in. They also carried with them three sturdy long javelins that could be thrown at enemy infantry, but more importantly placed in their rear or sides to prevent or help with any cavalry charges they may face. The supply troops also carried with them these metal spiked contractions one spreads to help slow or prevent cavalry or troop charges, but also could cause problems with allies if they were not careful.

There was a ton of new fighting methods and tools that Lord Potter had introduced to them, and even General Larim was learning things too. So of course they had a lot of training to do to get up to the standard that Lord Potter expected, and demonstrated when he personally showed them how to use their weapons. It was quite humbling seeing your Lord do some incredible throws with a javelin that you couldn't hope to match even with as many tries as you wanted. Either way he was excited about their new service, and he knew his men were too, if their stupid smiles were anything to go by. Well that would simply not do, they could be too relaxed here, so he took a page directly out of his Lord's book, and got to work.

"Now listen here you maggots!" he yelled to his soldiers.

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 _ **A/N:** So I borrowed a bit here for this story that I have planned for my Alternate history story, for the army, but changed it up quite a bit. I hope I was able to give a good explanation, and described everything well without forgetting something vital. Either way I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and hope to see you all when the next one is posted. One again like always, thanks for your reply and reviews! _


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